# Is there an alternative to "extend" for item and recipe groups?

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883>\
**Category:** The Toolbox\
**Created:** [July 5, 2023, 12:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883 "2023-07-05T12:21:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Amarin\_Reyny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/amarin_reyny/32/12396_2.png) [@Amarin\_Reyny](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Amarin_Reyny)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 12:21pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883/1 "2023-07-05T12:21:22Z")

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I want to be able to add entries to item and recipe groups without having to otherwise overwrite said groups in the process, but apparently “extend” isn’t the right option. Does anyone know what the right option is?

EDIT: When I said ““extend” isn’t the right option,” I meant because it apparently doesn’t work for item/recipe groups. Sorry for not making that clear.

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**Author:** ![RenechCDDA](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/renechcdda/32/12231_2.png) [@RenechCDDA](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/RenechCDDA)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883/2 "2023-07-05T16:20:48Z")

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Extend doesn’t overwrite, it _extends_. That is what extend is for.

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**Author:** ![Amarin\_Reyny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/amarin_reyny/32/12396_2.png) [@Amarin\_Reyny](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Amarin_Reyny)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883/3 "2023-07-05T16:47:24Z")

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I know, but it doesn’t work for item/recipe groups, so I need to find an alternative that does the same thing for those that extend does for everything else. Sorry for not making that clear in the first post. I’ve been kinda sleep-deprived lately…

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**Author:** ![RenechCDDA](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/renechcdda/32/12231_2.png) [@RenechCDDA](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/RenechCDDA)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 6:30pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883/4 "2023-07-05T18:30:26Z")

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Extend does work for item groups? [Cataclysm-DDA/doc/ITEM\_SPAWN.md at e2849413652046d350909ab9cfc3780d304bbf77 · CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA · GitHub](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/blob/e2849413652046d350909ab9cfc3780d304bbf77/doc/ITEM_SPAWN.md#adding-to-item-groups)

Though I don’t know what a “recipe group” would be (nested category?)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Amarin\_Reyny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/amarin_reyny/32/12396_2.png) [@Amarin\_Reyny](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Amarin_Reyny)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883/5 "2023-07-05T18:46:26Z")

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Last time I checked, it doesn’t work, and I’m not the only one to have noticed this.

> [@Does "copy-from" and "extend" work on item groups?](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-copy-from-and-extend-work-on-item-groups/19574/3):
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> I found a different solution later to what I wanted to do without copy-from and extend, but since you asked I tried it with copy-from/extend and copy-from/extend do not appear to work on item groups.

As for recipe groups, I tried using it as it as a way of adding to crafting recipes at basecamps as recently as this morning, but it doesn’t do anything in-game, even as it otherwise runs without giving any error messages.

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**Author:** ![RenechCDDA](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/renechcdda/32/12231_2.png) [@RenechCDDA](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/RenechCDDA)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883/6 "2023-07-05T19:00:46Z")

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If extend doesn’t work for item groups please open an issue with your examples, that’s explicitly supported and we’ll have to wrangle it back into shape.

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**Author:** ![Amarin\_Reyny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/amarin_reyny/32/12396_2.png) [@Amarin\_Reyny](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Amarin_Reyny)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 7:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/is-there-an-alternative-to-extend-for-item-and-recipe-groups/28883/7 "2023-07-05T19:01:49Z")

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I don’t have those examples any more, unfortunately. Should I do that for the recipe groups, though?