Creates a new List or String containing only a prefix/suffix of the elements as specified by the limit parameter.

When operating on a List, the returned list is always a copy even when all the elements are being returned.

When the limit expression evaluates to a positive integer, limit items from the beginning of the List/String are returned. When limit evaluates to a negative integer, |limit| items from the end of the List/String are returned. If |limit| is larger than the size of the List/String, then the entire List/String is returned. In the case of a List, a copy of the list is returned.

If the limit expression evaluates to a null or non-integer, then an empty list is returned. If the input is a null List/String, a null is returned.

Example:

• {{ 'abcdefghij' | limitTo: 4 }} → 'abcd'
• {{ 'abcdefghij' | limitTo: -4 }} → 'ghij'
• {{ 'abcdefghij' | limitTo: -100 }} → 'abcdefghij'

This ng-repeat directive:

<li ng-repeat="i in 'abcdefghij' | limitTo:-2">{{i}}</li>

results in

<li>i</li>
<li>j</li>

@NgFilter(name:'limitTo')
class LimitToFilter {
 Injector _injector;
 Parser _parser;

 LimitToFilter(Injector this._injector, Parser this._parser);

 dynamic call(dynamic items, [int limit]) {
   if (items == null) {
     return null;
   }
   if (limit == null) {
     return const[];
   }
   if (items is! List && items is! String) {
     return items;
   }
   int i = 0, j = items.length;
   if (limit > -1) {
     j = (limit > j) ? j : limit;
   } else {
     i = j + limit;
     if (i < 0) {
       i = 0;
     }
   }
   if (items is String) {
     return (items as String).substring(i, j);
   } else {
     return (items as List).getRange(i, j).toList(growable: false);
   }
 }
}