Passing arguments to Ruby methods - ruby

It seems that arguments can be passed to certain Ruby methods by appending the arguments after the method, and separating the two by a space. I'm trying to understand the mechanism that makes this happen. This is how arguments are passed to scripts in the command line. Why does the following statement work in Ruby?
item = 'orange'
fruits = ['orange', 'grapefruit', 'apple']
x = fruits.include? item
puts x
And why does the following statement not work?
item = 'orange'
fruits = ['orange', 'grapefruit', 'apple']
x = fruits.include? item ? 'You picked a fruit' : 'You did not pick a fruit'
puts x

Examine the AST with Ripper
In Ruby, parentheses are largely optional except when needed to avoid ambiguity, such as when passing arguments to methods that take a block. Under the hood, mainline Ruby has a lot of moving parts that tokenize and parse the code you write. One of the most useful is the Ripper module (documented here) which enables you to see the abstract syntax tree that Ruby produces from your code.
Here are two versions of your code as Ruby sees them. You can see from the S-expressions that the failing version is different from the non-failing version. In irb:
Ripper.sexp %q{x = fruits.include?(item) ? 'You picked a fruit' : 'You did not pick a fru
it'}
#=>
[:program,
[[:assign,
[:var_field, [:#ident, "x", [1, 0]]],
[:ifop,
[:method_add_arg,
[:call,
[:vcall, [:#ident, "fruits", [1, 4]]],
[:#period, ".", [1, 10]],
[:#ident, "include?", [1, 11]]],
[:arg_paren, [:args_add_block, [[:vcall, [:#ident, "item", [1, 20]]]], false]]],
[:string_literal, [:string_content, [:#tstring_content, "You picked a fruit", [1, 29]]]],
[:string_literal, [:string_content, [:#tstring_content, "You did not pick a fruit", [1, 52]]]]]]]]
Ripper.sexp %q{x = fruits.include? item ? 'You picked a fruit' : 'You did not pick a frui
t'}
#=>
[:program,
[[:assign,
[:var_field, [:#ident, "x", [1, 0]]],
[:command_call,
[:vcall, [:#ident, "fruits", [1, 4]]],
[:#period, ".", [1, 10]],
[:#ident, "include?", [1, 11]],
[:args_add_block,
[[:ifop,
[:vcall, [:#ident, "item", [1, 20]]],
[:string_literal, [:string_content, [:#tstring_content, "You picked a fruit", [1, 28]]]],
[:string_literal, [:string_content, [:#tstring_content, "You did not pick a fruit", [1, 51]]]]]],
false]]]]]
Since Ruby treats almost everything as an expression that returns a value, the order of operations can affect how the parser forms expressions. The ternary operator must ultimately evaluate as three expressions, and if you use what the parser considers ambiguous syntax it will cause problems.
See Also
parse.y

Related

Can the Ruby &: operator take arguments? [duplicate]

You're probably familiar with the following Ruby shorthand (a is an array):
a.map(&:method)
For example, try the following in irb:
>> a=[:a, 'a', 1, 1.0]
=> [:a, "a", 1, 1.0]
>> a.map(&:class)
=> [Symbol, String, Fixnum, Float]
The syntax a.map(&:class) is a shorthand for a.map {|x| x.class}.
Read more about this syntax in "What does map(&:name) mean in Ruby?".
Through the syntax &:class, you're making a method call class for each array element.
My question is: can you supply arguments to the method call? And if so, how?
For example, how do you convert the following syntax
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map {|x| x + 2}
to the &: syntax?
I'm not suggesting that the &: syntax is better.
I'm merely interested in the mechanics of using the &: syntax with arguments.
I assume you know that + is a method on Integer class. You can try the following in irb:
>> a=1
=> 1
>> a+(1)
=> 2
>> a.send(:+, 1)
=> 2
You can create a simple patch on Symbol like this:
class Symbol
def with(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
Which will enable you to do not only this:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.with(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
But also a lot of other cool stuff, like passing multiple parameters:
arr = ["abc", "babc", "great", "fruit"]
arr.map(&:center.with(20, '*'))
# => ["********abc*********", "********babc********", "*******great********", "*******fruit********"]
arr.map(&:[].with(1, 3))
# => ["bc", "abc", "rea", "rui"]
arr.map(&:[].with(/a(.*)/))
# => ["abc", "abc", "at", nil]
arr.map(&:[].with(/a(.*)/, 1))
# => ["bc", "bc", "t", nil]
And even work with inject, which passes two arguments to the block:
%w(abecd ab cd).inject(&:gsub.with('cde'))
# => "cdeeecde"
Or something super cool as passing [shorthand] blocks to the shorthand block:
[['0', '1'], ['2', '3']].map(&:map.with(&:to_i))
# => [[0, 1], [2, 3]]
[%w(a b), %w(c d)].map(&:inject.with(&:+))
# => ["ab", "cd"]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.with(&:*.with(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
Here is a conversation I had with #ArupRakshit explaining it further:
Can you supply arguments to the map(&:method) syntax in Ruby?
As #amcaplan suggested in the comment below, you could create a shorter syntax, if you rename the with method to call. In this case, ruby has a built in shortcut for this special method .().
So you could use the above like this:
class Symbol
def call(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.(&:*.(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
Here is a version using Refinements (which is less hacky than globally monkey patching Symbol):
module AmpWithArguments
refine Symbol do
def call(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
end
using AmpWithArguments
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.(&:*.(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
For your example can be done a.map(&2.method(:+)).
Arup-iMac:$ pry
[1] pry(main)> a = [1,3,5,7,9]
=> [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
[2] pry(main)> a.map(&2.method(:+))
=> [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[3] pry(main)>
Here is how it works :-
[3] pry(main)> 2.method(:+)
=> #<Method: Fixnum#+>
[4] pry(main)> 2.method(:+).to_proc
=> #<Proc:0x000001030cb990 (lambda)>
[5] pry(main)> 2.method(:+).to_proc.call(1)
=> 3
2.method(:+) gives a Method object. Then &, on 2.method(:+), actually a call #to_proc method, which is making it a Proc object. Then follow What do you call the &: operator in Ruby?.
As the post you linked to confirms, a.map(&:class) is not a shorthand for a.map {|x| x.class} but for a.map(&:class.to_proc).
This means that to_proc is called on whatever follows the & operator.
So you could give it directly a Proc instead:
a.map(&(Proc.new {|x| x+2}))
I know that most probably this defeats the purpose of your question but I can't see any other way around it - it's not that you specify which method to be called, you just pass it something that responds to to_proc.
There is another native option for enumerables which is pretty only for two arguments in my opinion. the class Enumerable has the method with_object which then returns another Enumerable.
So you can call the & operator for a method with each item and the object as arguments.
Example:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.to_enum.with_object(2).map(&:+) # => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
In the case you want more arguments you should repeat the proccess but it's ugly in my opinion:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.to_enum.with_object(2).map(&:+).to_enum.with_object(5).map(&:+) # => [8, 10, 12, 14, 16]
Short answer: No.
Following #rkon's answer, you could also do this:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map &->(_) { _ + 2 } # => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
if all your method needs as argument is an element from the array, this is probably the simplest way to do it:
def double(x)
x * 2
end
[1, 2, 3].map(&method(:double))
=> [2, 4, 6]
Instead of patching core classes yourself, as in the accepted answer, it's shorter and cleaner to use the functionality of the Facets gem:
require 'facets'
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map &:+.(2)
I'm surprised no one mentioned using curry yet, which has been in Ruby since Ruby 2.2.9. Here's how it can be done in the way OP wants using the standard Ruby library:
[1,3,5,7,9].map(&:+.to_proc.curry(2).call(11))
# => [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]
You need to supply an arity to curry that matches the call, though. This is because the interpreter doesn't know which object the + method refers to yet. This also means you can only use this when all the objects in map have the same arity. But that's probably not an issue if you're trying to use it this way.
I'm not sure about the Symbol#with already posted, I simplified it quite a bit and it works well:
class Symbol
def with(*args, &block)
lambda { |object| object.public_send(self, *args, &block) }
end
end
(also uses public_send instead of send to prevent calling private methods, also caller is already used by ruby so this was confusing)

What is `&method` called? How to pass multiple arguments in it? [duplicate]

You're probably familiar with the following Ruby shorthand (a is an array):
a.map(&:method)
For example, try the following in irb:
>> a=[:a, 'a', 1, 1.0]
=> [:a, "a", 1, 1.0]
>> a.map(&:class)
=> [Symbol, String, Fixnum, Float]
The syntax a.map(&:class) is a shorthand for a.map {|x| x.class}.
Read more about this syntax in "What does map(&:name) mean in Ruby?".
Through the syntax &:class, you're making a method call class for each array element.
My question is: can you supply arguments to the method call? And if so, how?
For example, how do you convert the following syntax
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map {|x| x + 2}
to the &: syntax?
I'm not suggesting that the &: syntax is better.
I'm merely interested in the mechanics of using the &: syntax with arguments.
I assume you know that + is a method on Integer class. You can try the following in irb:
>> a=1
=> 1
>> a+(1)
=> 2
>> a.send(:+, 1)
=> 2
You can create a simple patch on Symbol like this:
class Symbol
def with(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
Which will enable you to do not only this:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.with(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
But also a lot of other cool stuff, like passing multiple parameters:
arr = ["abc", "babc", "great", "fruit"]
arr.map(&:center.with(20, '*'))
# => ["********abc*********", "********babc********", "*******great********", "*******fruit********"]
arr.map(&:[].with(1, 3))
# => ["bc", "abc", "rea", "rui"]
arr.map(&:[].with(/a(.*)/))
# => ["abc", "abc", "at", nil]
arr.map(&:[].with(/a(.*)/, 1))
# => ["bc", "bc", "t", nil]
And even work with inject, which passes two arguments to the block:
%w(abecd ab cd).inject(&:gsub.with('cde'))
# => "cdeeecde"
Or something super cool as passing [shorthand] blocks to the shorthand block:
[['0', '1'], ['2', '3']].map(&:map.with(&:to_i))
# => [[0, 1], [2, 3]]
[%w(a b), %w(c d)].map(&:inject.with(&:+))
# => ["ab", "cd"]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.with(&:*.with(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
Here is a conversation I had with #ArupRakshit explaining it further:
Can you supply arguments to the map(&:method) syntax in Ruby?
As #amcaplan suggested in the comment below, you could create a shorter syntax, if you rename the with method to call. In this case, ruby has a built in shortcut for this special method .().
So you could use the above like this:
class Symbol
def call(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.(&:*.(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
Here is a version using Refinements (which is less hacky than globally monkey patching Symbol):
module AmpWithArguments
refine Symbol do
def call(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
end
using AmpWithArguments
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.(&:*.(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
For your example can be done a.map(&2.method(:+)).
Arup-iMac:$ pry
[1] pry(main)> a = [1,3,5,7,9]
=> [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
[2] pry(main)> a.map(&2.method(:+))
=> [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[3] pry(main)>
Here is how it works :-
[3] pry(main)> 2.method(:+)
=> #<Method: Fixnum#+>
[4] pry(main)> 2.method(:+).to_proc
=> #<Proc:0x000001030cb990 (lambda)>
[5] pry(main)> 2.method(:+).to_proc.call(1)
=> 3
2.method(:+) gives a Method object. Then &, on 2.method(:+), actually a call #to_proc method, which is making it a Proc object. Then follow What do you call the &: operator in Ruby?.
As the post you linked to confirms, a.map(&:class) is not a shorthand for a.map {|x| x.class} but for a.map(&:class.to_proc).
This means that to_proc is called on whatever follows the & operator.
So you could give it directly a Proc instead:
a.map(&(Proc.new {|x| x+2}))
I know that most probably this defeats the purpose of your question but I can't see any other way around it - it's not that you specify which method to be called, you just pass it something that responds to to_proc.
There is another native option for enumerables which is pretty only for two arguments in my opinion. the class Enumerable has the method with_object which then returns another Enumerable.
So you can call the & operator for a method with each item and the object as arguments.
Example:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.to_enum.with_object(2).map(&:+) # => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
In the case you want more arguments you should repeat the proccess but it's ugly in my opinion:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.to_enum.with_object(2).map(&:+).to_enum.with_object(5).map(&:+) # => [8, 10, 12, 14, 16]
Short answer: No.
Following #rkon's answer, you could also do this:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map &->(_) { _ + 2 } # => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
if all your method needs as argument is an element from the array, this is probably the simplest way to do it:
def double(x)
x * 2
end
[1, 2, 3].map(&method(:double))
=> [2, 4, 6]
Instead of patching core classes yourself, as in the accepted answer, it's shorter and cleaner to use the functionality of the Facets gem:
require 'facets'
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map &:+.(2)
I'm surprised no one mentioned using curry yet, which has been in Ruby since Ruby 2.2.9. Here's how it can be done in the way OP wants using the standard Ruby library:
[1,3,5,7,9].map(&:+.to_proc.curry(2).call(11))
# => [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]
You need to supply an arity to curry that matches the call, though. This is because the interpreter doesn't know which object the + method refers to yet. This also means you can only use this when all the objects in map have the same arity. But that's probably not an issue if you're trying to use it this way.
I'm not sure about the Symbol#with already posted, I simplified it quite a bit and it works well:
class Symbol
def with(*args, &block)
lambda { |object| object.public_send(self, *args, &block) }
end
end
(also uses public_send instead of send to prevent calling private methods, also caller is already used by ruby so this was confusing)

Differences between these 2 Ruby enumerators: [1,2,3].map vs. [1,2,3].group_by

In Ruby, is there a functional difference between these two Enumerators?
irb> enum_map = [1,2,3].map
=> #<Enumerator: [1, 2, 3]:map> # ends with "map>"
irb> enum_group_by = [1,2,3].group_by
=> #<Enumerator: [1, 2, 3]:group_by> # ends with "group_by>"
irb> enum_map.methods == enum_group_by.methods
=> true # they have the same methods
What can #<Enumerator: [1, 2, 3]:map> do that <Enumerator: [1, 2, 3]:group_by> can't do, and vice versa?
Thanks!
From the documentation of group_by:
Groups the collection by result of the block. Returns a hash where the
keys are the evaluated result from the block and the values are arrays
of elements in the collection that correspond to the key.
If no block is given an enumerator is returned.
(1..6).group_by { |i| i%3 } #=> {0=>[3, 6], 1=>[1, 4], 2=>[2, 5]}
From the documentation of map:
Returns a new array with the results of running block once for every
element in enum.
If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.
(1..4).map { |i| i*i } #=> [1, 4, 9, 16]
(1..4).collect { "cat" } #=> ["cat", "cat", "cat", "cat"]
As you can see, each does something different, which serves a different purpose. Concluding that two APIs are the same because they expose the same interface seems to miss the entire purpose of Object Oriented Programming - different services are supposed to expose the same interface to enable polymorphism.
There's a difference in what they do, but fundamentally they are both of the same class: Enumerator.
When they're used the values emitted by the enumerator will be different, yet the interface to them is identical.
Two objects of the same class generally have the same methods. It is possible to augment an instance with additional methods, but this is not normally done.

Can you supply arguments to the map(&:method) syntax in Ruby?

You're probably familiar with the following Ruby shorthand (a is an array):
a.map(&:method)
For example, try the following in irb:
>> a=[:a, 'a', 1, 1.0]
=> [:a, "a", 1, 1.0]
>> a.map(&:class)
=> [Symbol, String, Fixnum, Float]
The syntax a.map(&:class) is a shorthand for a.map {|x| x.class}.
Read more about this syntax in "What does map(&:name) mean in Ruby?".
Through the syntax &:class, you're making a method call class for each array element.
My question is: can you supply arguments to the method call? And if so, how?
For example, how do you convert the following syntax
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map {|x| x + 2}
to the &: syntax?
I'm not suggesting that the &: syntax is better.
I'm merely interested in the mechanics of using the &: syntax with arguments.
I assume you know that + is a method on Integer class. You can try the following in irb:
>> a=1
=> 1
>> a+(1)
=> 2
>> a.send(:+, 1)
=> 2
You can create a simple patch on Symbol like this:
class Symbol
def with(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
Which will enable you to do not only this:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.with(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
But also a lot of other cool stuff, like passing multiple parameters:
arr = ["abc", "babc", "great", "fruit"]
arr.map(&:center.with(20, '*'))
# => ["********abc*********", "********babc********", "*******great********", "*******fruit********"]
arr.map(&:[].with(1, 3))
# => ["bc", "abc", "rea", "rui"]
arr.map(&:[].with(/a(.*)/))
# => ["abc", "abc", "at", nil]
arr.map(&:[].with(/a(.*)/, 1))
# => ["bc", "bc", "t", nil]
And even work with inject, which passes two arguments to the block:
%w(abecd ab cd).inject(&:gsub.with('cde'))
# => "cdeeecde"
Or something super cool as passing [shorthand] blocks to the shorthand block:
[['0', '1'], ['2', '3']].map(&:map.with(&:to_i))
# => [[0, 1], [2, 3]]
[%w(a b), %w(c d)].map(&:inject.with(&:+))
# => ["ab", "cd"]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.with(&:*.with(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
Here is a conversation I had with #ArupRakshit explaining it further:
Can you supply arguments to the map(&:method) syntax in Ruby?
As #amcaplan suggested in the comment below, you could create a shorter syntax, if you rename the with method to call. In this case, ruby has a built in shortcut for this special method .().
So you could use the above like this:
class Symbol
def call(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.(&:*.(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
Here is a version using Refinements (which is less hacky than globally monkey patching Symbol):
module AmpWithArguments
refine Symbol do
def call(*args, &block)
->(caller, *rest) { caller.send(self, *rest, *args, &block) }
end
end
end
using AmpWithArguments
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map(&:+.(2))
# => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[(1..5), (6..10)].map(&:map.(&:*.(2)))
# => [[2, 4, 6, 8, 10], [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]]
For your example can be done a.map(&2.method(:+)).
Arup-iMac:$ pry
[1] pry(main)> a = [1,3,5,7,9]
=> [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
[2] pry(main)> a.map(&2.method(:+))
=> [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
[3] pry(main)>
Here is how it works :-
[3] pry(main)> 2.method(:+)
=> #<Method: Fixnum#+>
[4] pry(main)> 2.method(:+).to_proc
=> #<Proc:0x000001030cb990 (lambda)>
[5] pry(main)> 2.method(:+).to_proc.call(1)
=> 3
2.method(:+) gives a Method object. Then &, on 2.method(:+), actually a call #to_proc method, which is making it a Proc object. Then follow What do you call the &: operator in Ruby?.
As the post you linked to confirms, a.map(&:class) is not a shorthand for a.map {|x| x.class} but for a.map(&:class.to_proc).
This means that to_proc is called on whatever follows the & operator.
So you could give it directly a Proc instead:
a.map(&(Proc.new {|x| x+2}))
I know that most probably this defeats the purpose of your question but I can't see any other way around it - it's not that you specify which method to be called, you just pass it something that responds to to_proc.
There is another native option for enumerables which is pretty only for two arguments in my opinion. the class Enumerable has the method with_object which then returns another Enumerable.
So you can call the & operator for a method with each item and the object as arguments.
Example:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.to_enum.with_object(2).map(&:+) # => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
In the case you want more arguments you should repeat the proccess but it's ugly in my opinion:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.to_enum.with_object(2).map(&:+).to_enum.with_object(5).map(&:+) # => [8, 10, 12, 14, 16]
Short answer: No.
Following #rkon's answer, you could also do this:
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map &->(_) { _ + 2 } # => [3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
if all your method needs as argument is an element from the array, this is probably the simplest way to do it:
def double(x)
x * 2
end
[1, 2, 3].map(&method(:double))
=> [2, 4, 6]
Instead of patching core classes yourself, as in the accepted answer, it's shorter and cleaner to use the functionality of the Facets gem:
require 'facets'
a = [1,3,5,7,9]
a.map &:+.(2)
I'm surprised no one mentioned using curry yet, which has been in Ruby since Ruby 2.2.9. Here's how it can be done in the way OP wants using the standard Ruby library:
[1,3,5,7,9].map(&:+.to_proc.curry(2).call(11))
# => [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]
You need to supply an arity to curry that matches the call, though. This is because the interpreter doesn't know which object the + method refers to yet. This also means you can only use this when all the objects in map have the same arity. But that's probably not an issue if you're trying to use it this way.
I'm not sure about the Symbol#with already posted, I simplified it quite a bit and it works well:
class Symbol
def with(*args, &block)
lambda { |object| object.public_send(self, *args, &block) }
end
end
(also uses public_send instead of send to prevent calling private methods, also caller is already used by ruby so this was confusing)

passing array as a command argument

I am trying to pass an array to a ruby script from a command line and facing some issue.
Here is the problem:
require 'pp'
def foo(arr1, var, arr2, var2)
puts arr1.class
pp arr1
pp arr1[0]
puts arr2.class
pp arr2
pp arr2[0]
end
foo [1, 2], 3, [5, 6], 8
Here is the output:
Array
[1, 2]
1
Array
[5, 6]
5
All is fine so far. Now I change my script to accept argument from the command line:
require 'pp'
def foo(arr1,var)
puts arr1.class
pp arr1
pp arr1[0]
end
foo ARGV[0],3
Here is the output:
jruby test.rb [1, 2], 3, [5, 6], 8
String
"[1,"
91
String
"2],"
50
As you can see, the array gets passed as a string and arr[0] basically prints the ascii value.
So the question is how do I pass an array from the command line , hopefully in one line.
Also I believe this question is related to all shell invocations than just ruby ?
I am using bash shell.
Update:
Just updated the question to indicate that there can be multiple arrays at different positions
Here's a list of ways to accomplish this. Stay away from the eval-based solutions. My favorite (though I don't know ruby, but this is my favorite:
irb(main):001:0> s = "[5,3,46,6,5]"
=> "[5,3,46,6,5]"
irb(main):002:0> a = s.scan( /\d+/ )
=> ["5", "3", "46", "6", "5"]
irb(main):003:0> a.map!{ |s| s.to_i }
=> [5, 3, 46, 6, 5]
The arguments will always come in as string, you need to find a way to turn them into the format you want, in your example an array of values, followed by a single value. I suggest using trollop for this, to take the heavy lifting out of dealing with the arguments. It can accept multi-value arguments, e.g.
require 'trollop'
opts = Trollop.options do
opt :array, 'an array', type: :ints
opt :val, 'a value', type: :int
end
puts "array: #{opts[:array].inspect}"
puts "val: #{opts[:val].inspect}"
Then you can do:
$ ruby test.rb -a 1 2 -v 3
array: [1, 2]
val: 3
And extra nice:
$ ruby test.rb --help
Options:
--array, -a <i+>: an array
--val, -v <i>: a value
--help, -h: Show this message
You can use eval although you might open a security hole:
require 'pp'
def foo(arr1, var, arr2, var2)
puts arr1.class
pp arr1
pp arr1[0]
puts arr2.class
pp arr2
pp arr2[0]
end
eval("foo " + ARGV.join(" "))
Result
Array
[1, 2]
1
Array
[5, 6]
5
Hope it helps

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