How to flatten a hash, making each key a unique value? - ruby

Question

I want to take a hash with nested hashes and arrays and flatten it out into a single hash with unique values. I keep trying to approach this from different angles, but then I make it way more complex than it needs to be and get myself lost in what's happening.
Example Source Hash:
{
"Name" => "Kim Kones",
"License Number" => "54321",
"Details" => {
"Name" => "Kones, Kim",
"Licenses" => [
{
"License Type" => "PT",
"License Number" => "54321"
},
{
"License Type" => "Temp",
"License Number" => "T123"
},
{
"License Type" => "AP",
"License Number" => "A666",
"Expiration Date" => "12/31/2020"
}
]
}
}
Example Desired Hash:
{
"Name" => "Kim Kones",
"License Number" => "54321",
"Details_Name" => "Kones, Kim",
"Details_Licenses_1_License Type" => "PT",
"Details_Licenses_1_License Number" => "54321",
"Details_Licenses_2_License Type" => "Temp",
"Details_Licenses_2_License Number" => "T123",
"Details_Licenses_3_License Type" => "AP",
"Details_Licenses_3_License Number" => "A666",
"Details_Licenses_3_Expiration Date" => "12/31/2020"
}
For what it's worth, here's my most recent attempt before giving up.
def flattify(hashy)
temp = {}
hashy.each do |key, val|
if val.is_a? String
temp["#{key}"] = val
elsif val.is_a? Hash
temp.merge(rename val, key, "")
elsif val.is_a? Array
temp["#{key}"] = enumerate val, key
else
end
print "=> #{temp}\n"
end
return temp
end
def rename (hashy, str, n)
temp = {}
hashy.each do |key, val|
if val.is_a? String
temp["#{key}#{n}"] = val
elsif val.is_a? Hash
val.each do |k, v|
temp["#{key}_#{k}#{n}"] = v
end
elsif val.is_a? Array
temp["#{key}"] = enumerate val, key
else
end
end
return flattify temp
end
def enumerate (ary, str)
temp = {}
i = 1
ary.each do |x|
temp["#{str}#{i}"] = x
i += 1
end
return flattify temp
end

Answer 1

Interesting question!
Theory
Here's a recursive method to parse your data.
It keeps track of which keys and indices it has found.
It appends them in a tmp array.
Once a leaf object has been found, it gets written in a hash as value, with a joined tmp as key.
This small hash then gets recursively merged back to the main hash.
Code
def recursive_parsing(object, tmp = [])
case object
when Array
object.each.with_index(1).with_object({}) do |(element, i), result|
result.merge! recursive_parsing(element, tmp + [i])
end
when Hash
object.each_with_object({}) do |(key, value), result|
result.merge! recursive_parsing(value, tmp + [key])
end
else
{ tmp.join('_') => object }
end
end
As an example:
require 'pp'
pp recursive_parsing(data)
# {"Name"=>"Kim Kones",
# "License Number"=>"54321",
# "Details_Name"=>"Kones, Kim",
# "Details_Licenses_1_License Type"=>"PT",
# "Details_Licenses_1_License Number"=>"54321",
# "Details_Licenses_2_License Type"=>"Temp",
# "Details_Licenses_2_License Number"=>"T123",
# "Details_Licenses_3_License Type"=>"AP",
# "Details_Licenses_3_License Number"=>"A666",
# "Details_Licenses_3_Expiration Date"=>"12/31/2020"}
Debugging
Here's a modified version with old-school debugging. It might help you understand what's going on:
def recursive_parsing(object, tmp = [], indent="")
puts "#{indent}Parsing #{object.inspect}, with tmp=#{tmp.inspect}"
result = case object
when Array
puts "#{indent} It's an array! Let's parse every element:"
object.each_with_object({}).with_index(1) do |(element, result), i|
result.merge! recursive_parsing(element, tmp + [i], indent + " ")
end
when Hash
puts "#{indent} It's a hash! Let's parse every key,value pair:"
object.each_with_object({}) do |(key, value), result|
result.merge! recursive_parsing(value, tmp + [key], indent + " ")
end
else
puts "#{indent} It's a leaf! Let's return a hash"
{ tmp.join('_') => object }
end
puts "#{indent} Returning #{result.inspect}\n"
result
end
When called with recursive_parsing([{a: 'foo', b: 'bar'}, {c: 'baz'}]), it displays:
Parsing [{:a=>"foo", :b=>"bar"}, {:c=>"baz"}], with tmp=[]
It's an array! Let's parse every element:
Parsing {:a=>"foo", :b=>"bar"}, with tmp=[1]
It's a hash! Let's parse every key,value pair:
Parsing "foo", with tmp=[1, :a]
It's a leaf! Let's return a hash
Returning {"1_a"=>"foo"}
Parsing "bar", with tmp=[1, :b]
It's a leaf! Let's return a hash
Returning {"1_b"=>"bar"}
Returning {"1_a"=>"foo", "1_b"=>"bar"}
Parsing {:c=>"baz"}, with tmp=[2]
It's a hash! Let's parse every key,value pair:
Parsing "baz", with tmp=[2, :c]
It's a leaf! Let's return a hash
Returning {"2_c"=>"baz"}
Returning {"2_c"=>"baz"}
Returning {"1_a"=>"foo", "1_b"=>"bar", "2_c"=>"baz"}

Answer 2

Unlike the others, I have no love for each_with_object :-). But I do like passing a single result hash around so I don't have to merge and remerge hashes over and over again.
def flattify(value, result = {}, path = [])
case value
when Array
value.each.with_index(1) do |v, i|
flattify(v, result, path + [i])
end
when Hash
value.each do |k, v|
flattify(v, result, path + [k])
end
else
result[path.join("_")] = value
end
result
end
(Some details adopted from Eric, see comments)

Answer 3

Non-recursive approach, using BFS with an array as a queue. I keep the key-value pairs where the value isn't an array/hash, and push array/hash contents to the queue (with combined keys). Turning arrays into hashes (["a", "b"] ↦ {1=>"a", 2=>"b"}) as that felt neat.
def flattify(hash)
(q = hash.to_a).select { |key, value|
value = (1..value.size).zip(value).to_h if value.is_a? Array
!value.is_a?(Hash) || !value.each { |k, v| q << ["#{key}_#{k}", v] }
}.to_h
end
One thing I like about it is the nice combination of keys as "#{key}_#{k}". In my other solution, I could've also used a string path = '' and extended that with path + "_" + k, but that would've caused a leading underscore that I'd have to avoid or trim with extra code.