# Last-element macro

Learn how to get the last element of a collection.

This macro gets the last element of a [collection](/reference/cql/data-types/core/collection).

To determine the last element, this macro uses the order of the collection and not the key or index of the element.

Note that trying to get the last element of an empty collection results in an error, so be sure to provide a [default value](/reference/cql/expressions/operations/other/fallback) in cases where the collection might be empty.

> **Why not return null instead?**
>
> An error helps distinguish between empty collections and those with null elements, so you can easily handle both cases.

## Syntax

This macro has the following syntax:

```cql
last of /*<collection>*/
```

You can also prefix the macro with a definite article for readability:

```cql
the last of /*<collection>*/
```

## Parameters

These are the supported parameters:

- `collection`: `collection`

  A non-empty collection from which you want to get the last element.

## Examples

Here is an example of how to get the last element of a list:

```cql
last of [1, 2, 3] // 3
```

You can also get the last element of a map:

```cql
last of ["a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3] // 3
```

To get the last key of a map, you can use the [keys macro](/reference/cql/expressions/macros/collection/keys):

```cql
last of keys of ["a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3] // "c"
```