The range operator uses the magic increment operator internally so that it can work on strings (i.e, 'a'..'zzz'). Since there is no corresponding magic decrement operator, it doesn't work in reverse. You could make the argument that for numeric endpoints, you don't need the increment/decrement to be magical, but this is the way it is...

In reply to Re^2: the '..' operator and decreasing values by Anonymous Monk
in thread the '..' operator and decreasing values by eXile

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