Overview
Introduction
Sometimes what you need to change about a list of hex values isn't any value itself, but the order they appear in, for example rotating a lookup table, a color palette, or a round-robin schedule of tokens by a fixed offset.
This tool cyclically rotates a list of hex values by N positions in either direction, wrapping values around the ends rather than dropping them.
What Is Hex Value Shifter?
The Hex Value Shifter is a pure reordering tool: every value from your input list appears exactly once in the output, just starting from a different position in the cycle.
A shift of 1 moves the last value in the list to the front (and shifts everything else one step later); a shift of -1 does the mirror image, moving the first value to the end.
How Hex Value Shifter Works
The input is parsed into a list of hex values, then the shift amount is normalized into the range [0, list length) using a modulo operation so shifts larger than the list (or negative shifts) behave predictably.
The output list is built by reading, for each output position i, the value originally at position (i - normalizedShift) in the input, wrapping around the ends of the list as needed.
When To Use Hex Value Shifter
Use this when you need to rotate a sequence's starting point, such as advancing a round-robin list of hex tokens by one round, or cycling a palette of hex color codes.
If you actually need to reorder values by their numeric value instead of rotating their existing order, use Hex Value Sorter instead; this tool never compares values against each other.
Often used alongside Hex Value Sorter, Hex Digit Sorter and Hex Number Splitter.
Features
Advantages
- Values are never altered, only reordered, so nothing is lost or corrupted by the rotation.
- Handles shift amounts of any size (including negative and amounts larger than the list) via modulo normalization.
- Works identically regardless of whether the input list used newlines, spaces, or commas as separators.
Limitations
- A list of 0 or 1 items has nothing meaningful to rotate (single-item lists are always returned unchanged).
- This is order-only; it can't reorder based on value, digit content, or any other property, only the requested shift distance.
Examples
Best Practices & Notes
Best Practices
- Think of the shift amount as "how many positions later each value moves"; negative values move them earlier instead.
- If you only want to check a single rotation step, test with a small, easy-to-verify list first (like the 4-item examples above).
Developer Notes
The shift amount is normalized with `((shiftBy % len) + len) % len` before rotating, which correctly handles negative shifts and shifts larger than the list length in one formula, then each output position is filled from `values[(i - normalizedShift + len) % len]`.
Hex Value Shifter Use Cases
- Advancing a round-robin list of hex tokens or IDs by a fixed number of rounds
- Cycling the starting point of a repeating hex color palette or pattern
- Testing how a downstream system handles a reordered version of the same value set
Common Mistakes
- Expecting a positive shift to move the first item to the end; it's the reverse, the last item wraps to the front on a positive shift.
- Assuming this changes any value's digits or numeric meaning; it only changes list order.
Tips
- A shift equal to the list length always returns the original order unchanged, useful as a quick sanity check.
- Combine with Hex Value Sorter by sorting first, then rotating, to get a stable starting point for an already-ordered list.