How to collect only string instances from a collection? - ruby

I have an array, which is comprising of different kind of objects. But I would like to get only the string instances. What i wrote as below :
ary = ["11",1,2,"hi",[11]]
ary.select{|e| e.instance_of? String } # => ["11", "hi"]
I am looking for an elegant way of doing this, if any.

I would do as below using Enumerable#grep :
Returns an array of every element in enum for which Pattern === element. If the optional block is supplied, each matching element is passed to it, and the block’s result is stored in the output array.
ary = ["11",1,2,"hi",[11]]
ary.grep(String) # => ["11", "hi"]

You may want to try Object#is_a? method:
ary = ["11", 1, 2, "hi", [11]]
ary.select{|e| e.is_a? String }
# Output
=> ["11", "hi"]

Can't do better than grep, but here's another:
ary.group_by(&:class)[String] # => ["11", "hi"]

Related

Ruby Hash: type casting

I’m trying to get a better grasp on writing in Ruby and working with Hash tables and their values.
1. Say you have a hash:
‘FOO’= {‘baz’ => [1,2,3,4,5]}
Goal: convert each value into a string in the ‘Ruby’ way.
I’ve come across multiple examples of using .each eg.
FOO.each = { |k,v| FOO[k] = v.to_s }
However this renders an array encapsulated in a string. Eg. "[1,2,3,4,5]" where it should be ["1", "2", "3", "4", "5"].
2. When type casting is performed on a Hash that’s holds an array of values, is the result a new array? Or simply a change in type of value (eg. 1 becomes “1” when .to_s is applied (say the value was placed through a each enumerator like above).
An explanation is greatly appreciated. New to Ruby.
In the each block, k and v are the key value pair. In your case, 'baz' is key and [1,2,3,4,5] is value. Since you're doing v.to_s, it converts the whole array to string and not the individual values.
You can do something like this to achieve what you want.
foo = { 'baz' => [1,2,3,4,5] }
foo.each { |k, v| foo[k] = v.map(&:to_s) }
You can use Hash#transform_values:
foo = { 'baz' => [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] }
foo.transform_values { |v| v.map(&:to_s) } #=> {"baz"=>["1", "2", "3", "4", "5"]}

Ruby: Is it true that #map generally doesn't make sense with bang methods?

This question was inspired by this one:
Ruby: Why does this way of using map throw an error?
Someone pointed out the following:
map doesn't make much sense when used with ! methods.
You should either:
use map with gsub
or use each with gsub!
Can someone explain why that is?
Base object
Here's an array with strings as element :
words = ['hello', 'world']
New array
If you want a new array with modified strings, you can use map with gsub :
new_words = words.map{|word| word.gsub('o','#') }
p new_words
#=> ["hell#", "w#rld"]
p words
#=> ["hello", "world"]
p new_words == words
#=> false
The original strings and the original array aren't modified.
Strings modified in place
If you want to modify the strings in place, you can use :
words.each{|word| word.gsub!('o','#') }
p words
#=> ["hell#", "w#rld"]
map and gsub!
new_words = words.map{|word| word.gsub!('o','#') }
p words
#=> ["hell#", "w#rld"]
p new_words
#=> ["hell#", "w#rld"]
p words == new_words
#=> true
p new_words.object_id
#=> 12704900
p words.object_id
#=> 12704920
Here, a new array is created, but the elements are the exact same ones!
It doesn't bring anything more than the previous examples. It creates a new Array for nothing. It also might confuse people reading your code by sending opposite signals :
gsub! will indicate that you want to modifiy existing objects
map will indicate that you don't want to modify existing objects.
Map is for building a new array without mutating the original. Each is for performing some action on each element of an array. Doing both at once is surprising.
>> arr = ["foo bar", "baz", "quux"]
=> ["foo bar", "baz", "quux"]
>> arr.map{|x| x.gsub!(' ', '-')}
=> ["foo-bar", nil, nil]
>> arr
=> ["foo-bar", "baz", "quux"]
Since !-methods generally have side effects (and only incidentally might return a value), each should be preferred to map when invoking a !-method.
An exception might be when you have a list of actions to perform. The method to perform the action might sensibly be named with a !, but you wish to collect the results in order to report which ones succeeded or failed.

Creating a map from an array of arrays in Ruby

I'm trying to write a function in Ruby which can take in a in an array of arrays, and convert it into a hash. This will be used to simulate sentences and create arbitrary word sequences. The resulting map will be helpful in generating all combination of sentences available with the current sentence rules.
How do I go about achieving this? I'm a bit lost as to where to start.
Try this:
arr = [ ["<start>", "The <object> <verb> tonight."],
["<object>", "waves", "big yellow flowers", "slugs"],
["<verb>", "sigh <adverb>", "portend like <object>", "die <adverb>"],
["<adverb>", "warily", "grumpily"] ]
arr.map { |ar| [ar.shift, ar.map { |str| str.split }] }.to_h
#=>
#{ "<start>" => [["The", "<object>", "<verb>", "tonight."]],
# "<object>" => [["waves"], ["big", "yellow", "flowers"], ["slugs"]],
# "<verb>" => [["sigh", "<adverb>"], ["portend", "like", "<object>"], ["die", "<adverb>"]],
# "<adverb>" => [["warily"], ["grumpily"]] }
ar.shift takes the first element of each subarray. The block used with ar.map splits (on whitespace) the remaining elements into arrays. Finally to_h converts the resulting array into a hash.

Converting Setting File to Hash

I have a settings file and I am reading it with file read and getting a string that I want to convert into a hash for easier usage.
How can I convert the following:
string="key1=value1\nkey2=value2"
Into:
{"key1" => "value1", "key2" => "value2"}
You can do this:
string.split("\n").map{|s| s.split("=")}.to_h
First split around new lines.
string.split("\n")
#=> ["key1=value1", "key2=v vlue2"]
Next, split each strings around =
string.split("\n").map{|s| s.split("=")}
#=> [["key1", "value1"], ["key2", "v vlue2"]]
Next, convert the array of 2-element arrays into Hash by calling to_h method.
string.split("\n").map{|s| s.split("=")}.to_h
#=> {"key1"=>"value1", "key2"=>"v vlue2"}
Hash[*string.split(/[\n=]/)] # => {"key1"=>"value1", "key2"=>"value2"}

Strip in collect on splitted array in Ruby

The following code:
str = "1, hello,2"
puts str
arr = str.split(",")
puts arr.inspect
arr.collect { |x| x.strip! }
puts arr.inspect
produces the following result:
1, hello,2
["1", " hello", "2"]
["1", "hello", "2"]
This is as expected. The following code:
str = "1, hello,2"
puts str
arr = (str.split(",")).collect { |x| x.strip! }
puts arr.inspect
Does however produce the following output:
1, hello,2
[nil, "hello", nil]
Why do I get these "nil"? Why can't I do the .collect immediately on the splitted-array?
Thanks for the help!
The #collect method will return an array of the values returned by each block's call. In your first example, you're modifying the actual array contents with #strip! and use those, while you neglect the return value of #collect.
In the second case, you use the #collect result. Your problem is that #strip! will either return a string or nil, depending on its result – especially, it'll return nil if the string wasn't modified.
Therefore, use #strip (without the exclamation mark):
1.9.3-p194 :005 > (str.split(",")).collect { |x| x.strip }
=> ["1", "hello", "2"]
Because #strip! returns nil if the string was not altered.
In your early examples you were not using the result of #collect, just modifying the strings with #strip!. Using #each in that case would have made the non-functional imperative loop a bit more clear. One normally uses #map / #collect only when using the resulting new array.
You last approach looks good, you wrote a functional map but you left the #strip! in ... just take out the !.

Resources