Ruby: Interpolate strings in hash creation - ruby

Question

I'm currently trying to write a small script which parses weekly reports(e-mails) and stores the data I want in variables, so I can handle them further.
The functionality is working already, but it's sort of hacked in at the moment and I'd like to learn how the code should look idealy.
This is my code at the moment - I shortened it a bit and made it more generic:
activated_accounts_rx = Regexp.new(/example/)
canceled_accounts_rx = Regexp.new(/example/)
converted_accounts_rx = Regexp.new(/example/)
File.open("weekly_report.txt") do |f|
input = f.read
activated_accounts = input.scan(activated_accounts_rx).join
canceled_accounts = input.scan(canceled_accounts_rx).join
converted_accounts = input.scan(converted_accounts_rx).join
end
I thought of something like this and I know that it can't work, but I don't know how I can get it to work:
var_names = ["activated_accounts",
"canceled_accounts",
"converted_accounts"]
regex = { "#{var_names[0]}": Regexp.new(/example/),
"#{var_names[1]}": Regexp.new(/example/) }
File.open("weekly_report.txt") do |f|
input = f.read
for name in var_names
name = input.scan(regex[:#{name}]).join
end
end
I would like to end up with variables like this:
activated_accounts = 13
canceled_accounts = 21
converted_accounts = 5
Can someone help me please?

Answer 1

You probably don't need to have a separate array for your variables. Just use them as the keys in the hash. Then you can access the values later from another hash. Better yet, if you don't need the regexes anymore, you can just replace that value with the scanned contents.
regexHash = {
activated_accounts: Regexp.new(/example/),
canceled_accounts : Regexp.new(/example/),
converted_accounts: Regexp.new(/example/)
}
values = {}
contents = File.open("weekly_report.txt").read
regexHash.each do |var, regex|
values[var] = contents.scan(regex).join
end
To access your values later just use
values[:var_name] # values[:activated_accounts] for example

Answer 2

If you want separate name's variable in an array, you can use to_sym:
regex = { var_names[0].to_sym => Regexp.new(/example/),
var_names[1].to_sym => Regexp.new(/example/) } #Rocket notation!
And:
for name in var_names
name = input.scan(regex[var_names[0].to_sym]).join
end
Anyway, i prefer the Rob Wagner advice.