Ruby using regex in select block - ruby

Question

I've been having a lot of trouble sifting out regex matches. I could use scan, but since it only operates over a string, and I dont want to use a join on the array in question, it is much more tedious. I want to be able to do something like this:
array = ["a1d", "6dh","th3"].select{|x| x =~ /\d/}
# => ["1", "6", "3"}
However this never seems to work. Is there a work around or do I just need to use scan?

Answer 1

Try: Array#map
> array = ["a1d", "6dh","th3"].map {|x| x[/\d+/]}
#=> ["1", "6", "3"]
Note:
select
Returns a new array containing all elements of ary for which the given
block returns a true value.
In your case each element contains digit and it returns true, so you are getting original element via select. while map will perform action on each element and return new array with performed action on each element.

Answer 2

You can use grep with a block:
array = ["a1d", "6dh", "th3"]
array.grep(/(\d)/) { $1 }
#=> ["1", "6", "3"]
It passes each matching element to the block and returns an array containing the block's results.
$1 is a special global variable containing the first capture group.
Unlike map, only matching elements are returned:
array = ["a1d", "foo", "6dh", "bar", "th3"]
array.grep(/(\d)/) { $1 }
#=> ["1", "6", "3"]
array.map { |s| s[/\d/] }
#=> ["1", nil, "6", nil, "3"]

Answer 3

Depending on your requirements, you may wish to construct a hash.
arr = ["a1d", "6dh", "th3", "abc", "3for", "rg6", "def"]
arr.each_with_object(Hash.new { |h,k| h[k] = [] }) { |str,h| h[str[/\d+/]] << str }
#=> {"1"=>["a1d"], "6"=>["6dh", "rg6"], "3"=>["th3", "3for"], nil=>["abc", "def"]}
Hash.new { |h,k| h[k] = [] } creates an empty hash with a default block, represented by the block variable h. That means that if the hash does not have a key k, the block is executed, adding the key value pair k=>[] to the hash, after which h[k] << k is executed.
The above is a condensed (and Ruby-like) way of writing the following.
h = {}
arr.each do |str|
s = str[/\d+/]
h[s] = [] unless h.key?(s)
h[s] << str
end
h
# => {"1"=>["a1d"], "6"=>["6dh", "rg6"], "3"=>["th3", "3for"], nil=>["abc", "def"]}
The expression in the third line could alternatively be written
arr.each_with_object({}) { |str,h| (h[str[/\d+/]] ||= []) << str }
h[str[/\d+/]] ||= [] sets h[str[/\d+/]] to an empty array if the hash h does not have a key str[/\d+/].
See Enumerable#each_with_object and Hash::new.
#Stefan suggests
arr.group_by { |str| str[/\d+/] }
#=> {"1"=>["a1d"], "6"=>["6dh", "rg6"], "3"=>["th3", "3for"], nil=>["abc", "def"]}
What can I say?