Reduce is a powerful way to process a collection of data into a new form. ``` as $ ireduce (; ) ``` e.g. ``` .[] as $item ireduce (0; . + $item) ``` On the LHS we are configuring the collection of items that will be reduced `` as well as what each element will be called `$`. Note that the array has been splatted into its individual elements. On the RHS there is ``, the starting value of the accumulator and ``, the expression that will update the accumulator for each element in the collection. Note that within the block expression, `.` will evaluate to the current value of the accumulator. ## yq vs jq syntax Reduce syntax in `yq` is a little different from `jq` - as `yq` (currently) isn't as sophisticated as `jq` and its only supports infix notation (e.g. a + b, where the operator is in the middle of the two parameters) - where as `jq` uses a mix of infix notation with _prefix_ notation (e.g. `reduce a b` is like writing `+ a b`). To that end, the reduce operator is called `ireduce` for backwards compatability if a `jq` like prefix version of `reduce` is ever added.