intersperse

Intersperse is a verb meaning to place something at intervals among other things. It describes the act of distributing items across a sequence so that they appear between elements rather than clustered at one end. The term is used in writing, data processing, and layout to indicate the insertion of markers, separators, or additional items at regular or contextual points.

In programming and data processing, intersperse commonly refers to an operation that inserts a specified element between successive items of a sequence. For example, interspersing a delimiter between the elements of [a, b, c] yields a new sequence such as [a, delimiter, b, delimiter, c]. Most definitions place the separator only between elements, not at the ends. Several languages implement this as a standard function or as a pattern you can replicate with a small loop or generator.

Related concepts include intercalate, which joins a sequence of lists or strings using a separator and then flattens the result, and simple delimiting, which may attach labels, punctuation, or annotations between items. In prose, interspersing anecdotes or examples can improve readability; in data presentation, it helps to separate items visually or semantically.

Implementation considerations include preserving the order of original elements and the need for additional memory to hold the result. The concept is language-agnostic and appears in both functional and imperative contexts, reflecting a common pattern of inserting a placeholder or marker between existing elements.