# clamp proc

Source: https://ref.dm-lang.org/proc/clamp
Added in BYOND 513.

### Format
- `clamp(Value, Low, High)`
- `clamp(List, Low, High)`


### Args
- `Value`: A number, text, pixloc, or vector (or null, treated as 0).
- `List`: A list of values.
- `Low`: The lowest value that can be returned.
- `High`: The highest value that can be returned.


### Returns
- A copy of the original Value, constrained between Low and High.
- The original List, whose contents have all been clamped.


"Clamps" a value, usually a number, to a given allowable range from `Low` to `High`. If the value is already in that range, it is unchanged. Otherwise, the closer of `Low` or `High` is returned.

If the `Low` and `High` values are out of order, it doesn't matter.

This is effectively equivalent to `min(max(Value, min(Low,High)), max(Low,High))`, but slightly faster.

```dm /clamp/
usr << clamp(5, 0, 10)  // 5; it falls between 0 and 10
usr << clamp(-1, 0, 10) // 0; it is less than 0
usr << clamp(20, 0, 10) // 10; it is more than 10
```

If the compared items are objects such as pixlocs or vectors, the result of clamping them is a new object, not one of the objects that was compared.

The list format will accept a list in place of a value as the first argument, and it behaves as if you looped through the entire list and ran `clamp()` on each value. Please note the original list will be modified. If you want to leave the original list alone, use the [`Copy()` proc](https://ref.dm-lang.org/list/proc/Copy.md) to pass a copy to `clamp()` instead.

### See also
- [min proc](https://ref.dm-lang.org/proc/min.md)
- [max proc](https://ref.dm-lang.org/proc/max.md)