Odd behavior with Ruby arrays? - ruby

Question

I am using Ruby 2.3.1 and I cannot tell if I've encountered a bug or if this is intended behavior.
If you create an NxN matrix by making nested arrays, as such:
matrix = [[0]*5]*5
and then set the elements on the diagonals, as such:
(0..4).each {|i| matrix[i][i] = i}
this ends up affecting every column in every row:
[
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4],
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4],
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4],
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4],
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
]
Is this intended behavior?
P.S. I do not want to use Ruby's Matrix library, but would rather work with plain arrays.
Thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

In Ruby, arrays are, behind the scenes, objects of type array, which can contain primitive types and references to other objects. Now, this last bit is important - the array doesn't contain the object itself, but instead a pointer to it, which is interpreted as necessary when the programmer asks for it.
So the OP's original initialization code
matrix = [[0]*5]*5
Really creates a single array object containing 5 0s, and then copies the pointer to it 5 times. This also happens when you do
matrix = Array.new(5, Array.new(5, 0))
for precisely the same reason. So, as posted in the comments, the idiomatically correct Ruby way to create an array of 5 different array objects is
matrix = Array.new(5){Array.new(5, 0)}
Which yields a single array that contains pointers to 5 different array objects, preventing the issue encountered by the OP. Full documentation on the behaviour of Ruby arrays can be found at this finely-crafted link.

Answer 2

You don't need to change the diagonal to observe that behaviour; just change any element, say
matrix[1][1] = 1
Then
matrix
#=> [[0, 1, 0, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 0, 0],
# [0, 1, 0, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 0, 0]]
Consider
matrix.map { |row| row.object_id }
#=> [70153694327100, 70153694327100, 70153694327100,
# 70153694327100, 70153694327100].
This shows that all elements ("rows") of matrix are the same object, ergo, if that object is changed, all elements of matrix are affected. matrix = [[0]*5]*5 is equivalent to
matrix = Array.new(5, Array.new(5,0))
(See Array::new, expecially "Common gotchas".) What you want (as #Sebastian notes) is
matrix = Array.new(5) { Array.new(5,0) }
#=> [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
# [0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0]]
so that
matrix[1][1] = 1
only affects that one element:
matrix
#=> [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
# [0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0]]

Answer 3

matrix = [[0]*5]*5
Let's break this down:
a = [0]*5
Create an array of 5 zeros; this is an array of integers.
matrix = [a] * 5
Create an array of 5 references to the same array a.
So of course when you modify one, the others will be modified; it's the same array.
I don't know Ruby, so please feel free to correct any incorrect terminology.