and here it is in sal, look ma no quote! define variable a-ref = {a1 (1 2 3) a2}, b-ref = {b1 (4 5 6) b2}, c-ref = {c1 (7 8 9) c2}, ref-list = list(a-ref, b-ref, c-ref) #a[list for refx in ref-list collect second(refx)]