Only push specific substring to array in Ruby - ruby

I have an array that I am looping through and pushing specific values to a separate array. EX:
first_array = ["Promoter: 8", "Passive: 7"]
I want to push every value that is an integer to a separate array, that would look like this in the end:
final_array = [8,7]
It would be nice for the values in the new array to be integers. I can't think of a way to push all numeric values within a string to a new array, but what would be the best option to do what I am wanting?

first_array.map{|s| s[/\d+/].to_i}
# => [8, 7]

first_array.map{|a| a.match(/\d+/)}.compact.map{|a| a[0].to_i }
Use a regex to grab the integers,
compact the blank spaces from the strings with no integers, and
convert them all to ints

And I have to add this super short but complicated one-liner solution:
a = ["Promoter: 8", "Passive: 7"]
p a.grep(/(\d+)/){$&.to_i} #=> [8,7]

Your question, as formulated, has an easy practical answer, already provided by others. But it seems to me, that your array of strings
a = ["Promoter: 8", "Passive: 7"]
envies being a Hash. So, from broader perspective, I would take freedom of converting it to a Hash first:
require 'pyper' # (type "gem install pyper" in your command line to install it)
hsh = Hash[ a.τBmm2dτ &/(\w+): *(\d+)/.method( :match ) ]
#=> {"Promoter"=>"8", "Passive"=>"7"}
# (The construction of #τBmm2dτ Pyper method will be explained in the appendix.)
Now, having your input data in a hash, you can do things with them more easily, eg.
hsh.τmbtiτ
#=> [8, 7]
APPENDIX: Explanation of the Pyper methods.
Pyper methods are similar to Lisp #car/#cdr methods in that, that a combination of
letters controls the method behavior. In the first method, #τBmm2dτ:
τ - opening and ending character
m - means #map
B - means take a block
2 - means first 3 elements of an array
d - means all elements except the first one (same meaning as in #cdr, btw.)
So, in #τBmm2dτ, Bm applies the block as follows:
x = ["Promoter: 8", "Passive: 7"].map &/(\w+): *(\d+)/.method( :match )
#=> [#<MatchData "Promoter: 8" 1:"Promoter" 2:"8">, #<MatchData "Passive: 7" 1:"Passive" 2:"7">]
# Which results in an array of 2 MatchData objects.
Then, m2d chars map (m) the MatchData objects using 2 and d chars. Character 2 gives
x = x.map { |e| e.to_a.take 3 }
#=> [["Promoter: 8", "Promoter", "8"], ["Passive: 7", "Passive", "7"]]
and d removes the first element from each:
x = x.map { |e| e.drop 1 }
#=> [["Promoter", "8"], ["Passive", "7"]]
In the secon method, #τmbtiτ, m means again #map, b means take the second element, and ti means convert it to Integer:
{"Promoter"=>"8", "Passive"=>"7"}.to_a.map { |e| Integer e[1] }
#=> [8, 7]

If the integer part of each string in (which look like members of a hash) is always preceded by at least one space, and there is no other whitespace (other than possibly at the beginning of the string), you could do this:
first_array = ["Promoter: 8", "Passive: 7"]
Hash[*first_array.map(&:split).flatten].values.map(&:to_i) # => [8,7]
map first_array => [["Promoter:", "8"], ["Passive:", "7"]]
flatten => ["Promoter:", "8", "Passive:", "7"]
convert to hash => {"Promoter:" => "8", "Passive:" => "7"}
get hash values => ["8", "7"]
convert to ints => [8, 7]
Note the need for the splat:
Hash[*["Promoter:", "8", "Passive:", "7"]]
=> Hash["Promoter:", "8", "Passive:", "7"]
=> {"Promoter:" => "8", "Passive:" => "7"}

Related

Set multiple keys to the same value at once for a Ruby hash

I'm trying to create this huge hash, where there are many keys but only a few values.
So far I have it like so...
du_factor = {
"A" => 1,
"B" => 1,
"C" => 1,
"D" => 2,
"E" => 2,
"F" => 2,
...etc., etc., etc., on and on and on for longer than you even want to know. What's a shorter and more elegant way of creating this hash without flipping its structure entirely?
Edit: Hey so, I realized there was a waaaay easier and more elegant way to do this than the answers given. Just declare an empty hash, then declare some arrays with the keys you want, then use a for statement to insert them into the array, like so:
du1 = ["A", "B", "C"]
du2 = ["D", "E", "F"]
dufactor = {}
for i in du1
dufactor[i] = 1
end
for i in du740
dufactor[i] = 2
end
...but the fact that nobody suggested that makes me, the extreme Ruby n00b, think that there must be a reason why I shouldn't do it this way. Performance issues?
Combining Ranges with a case block might be another option (depending on the problem you are trying to solve):
case foo
when ('A'..'C') then 1
when ('D'..'E') then 2
# ...
end
Especially if you focus on your source code's readability.
How about:
vals_to_keys = {
1 => [*'A'..'C'],
2 => [*'D'..'F'],
3 => [*'G'..'L'],
4 => ['dog', 'cat', 'pig'],
5 => [1,2,3,4]
}
vals_to_keys.each_with_object({}) { |(v,arr),h| arr.each { |k| h[k] = v } }
#=> {"A"=>1, "B"=>1, "C"=>1, "D"=>2, "E"=>2, "F"=>2, "G"=>3, "H"=>3, "I"=>3,
# "J"=>3, "K"=>3, "L"=>3, "dog"=>4, "cat"=>4, "pig"=>4, 1=>5, 2=>5, 3=>5, 4=>5}
What about something like this:
du_factor = Hash.new
["A", "B", "C"].each {|ltr| du_factor[ltr] = 1}
["D", "E", "F"].each {|ltr| du_factor[ltr] = 2}
# Result:
du_factor # => {"A"=>1, "B"=>1, "C"=>1, "D"=>2, "E"=>2, "F"=>2}
Create an empty hash, then for each group of keys that share a value, create an array literal containing the keys, and use the array's '.each' method to batch enter them into the hash. Basically the same thing you did above with for loops, but it gets it done in three lines.
keys = %w(A B C D E F)
values = [1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2]
du_factor = Hash[*[keys, values].transpose.flatten]
If these will be more than 100, writing them down to a CSV file might be better.
keys = [%w(A B C), %w(D E F)]
values = [1,2]
values.map!.with_index{ |value, idx| Array(value) * keys[idx].size }.flatten!
keys.flatten!
du_factor = Hash[keys.zip(values)]
Notice here that I used destructive methods (methods ending with !). this is important for performance and memory usage optimization.

Adding/Deleting numbers in an array via user input

I want to add/remove numbers in an array based on user input. Here's what I tried:
a = %w[1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
delete_list = []
puts a
puts "pick 1-9 to del"
input = gets.to_i
input << a
puts a
The last line is to check if it worked, and I get "no implicit conversion of Array into Integer". Is this because I used %w and the array isn't integer based?
a = %w[1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
a.map! {|e| e.to_i}
puts a
puts "pick 1-9 to del"
input = gets.chomp
a.delete(input)
puts a
Well, I changed it up like so. But I don't seem to be having success with the a.delete(input) command, as my array still prints out 1-9. What am I doing wrong?
To remove an element at specific position use Array#delete_at:
input = gets.to_i
a.delete_at(input - 1) # index starts from `0`
If you want to delete item not by position, but by value, use Array#delete.
input = gets.chomp # `a` contains strings; used `.chomp` instead of `.to_i`
a.delete(input)
Yes. It is because the argument to Fixnum#<< has to be an integer, not an array.
Focusing on the key lines of code:
a = %w[1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
This makes the variable "a" an array of string elements:
=> ["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9"]
Then you set this variable:
input = gets.to_i
This gets a string from the user ("gets" - like an abbreviation of the name getStringFromUser) and then .to_i turns it to an integer.
This would have likely resulted in a "0" (if letters entered) or whatever integer was entered:
=>0 OR => #some integer
Then you tried to put an array into the integer:
input << a
Ruby tried to take the "a" array of elements (class Array) and cram it into that integer (aka: class Fixnum) variable "input". This is where you got your error - Ruby can't put an array into an integer using a method like "<<".
If you replaced the line:
input << a
With:
a << input
You'll at least get a functional result.
If the "gets" was say, input=9, then your last puts a would give you:
=> ["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", 9]
Which is an Array element that consists of a bunch of string elements and an integer element that was pushed to the end.
Now, from your puts "pick 1-9 to del", it seems like you want to delete an element from the array.
First, you'll want your array to be integers and not strings... something like:
a.map! {|e|e.to_i}
=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
(if you hadn't converted the input to an integer, you could skip that last step... or oddly convert the "input" back to a string with input.to_s)
Now that "a" is an array of integers, you can delete one using the "delete" method for Arrays and telling it to delete the value of the "input" variable:
a.delete(input)
=> 9
#it returns the value you deleted.
Your last puts a would return:
=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
It's a long step-wise answer, but hopefully that helps.

How to remove elements of array in place returning the removed elements

I have an array arr. I want to destructively remove elements from arr based on a condition, returning the removed elements.
arr = [1,2,3]
arr.some_method{|a| a > 1} #=> [2, 3]
arr #=> [1]
My first try was reject!:
arr = [1,2,3]
arr.reject!{|a| a > 1}
but the returning blocks and arr's value are both [1].
I could write a custom function, but I think there is an explicit method for this. What would that be?
Update after the question was answered:
partition method turns out to be useful for implementing this behavior for hash as well. How can I remove elements of a hash, returning the removed elements and the modified hash?
hash = {:x => 1, :y => 2, :z => 3}
comp_hash, hash = hash.partition{|k,v| v > 1}.map{|a| Hash[a]}
comp_hash #=> {:y=>2, :z=>3}
hash #=> {:x=>1}
I'd use partition here. It doesn't modify self inplace, but returns two new arrays. By assigning the second array to arr again, it gets the results you want:
comp_arr, arr = arr.partition { |a| a > 1 }
See the documentation of partition.
All methods with a trailing bang ! modify the receiver and it seems to be a convention that these methods return the resulting object because the non-bang do so.
What you can to do though is something like this:
b = (arr.dup - arr.reject!{|a| a>1 })
b # => [2,3]
arr #=> [1]
Here is a link to a ruby styleguide which has a section on nameing - although its rather short
To remove (in place) elements of array returning the removed elements one could use delete method, as per Array class documentation:
a = [ "a", "b", "b", "b", "c" ]
a.delete("b") #=> "b"
a #=> ["a", "c"]
a.delete("z") #=> nil
a.delete("z") { "not found" } #=> "not found"
It accepts block so custom behavior could be added, as needed

Match sequences of consecutive characters in a string

I have the string "111221" and want to match all sets of consecutive equal integers: ["111", "22", "1"].
I know that there is a special regex thingy to do that but I can't remember and I'm terrible at Googling.
Using regex in Ruby 1.8.7+:
p s.scan(/((\d)\2*)/).map(&:first)
#=> ["111", "22", "1"]
This works because (\d) captures any digit, and then \2* captures zero-or-more of whatever that group (the second opening parenthesis) matched. The outer (…) is needed to capture the entire match as a result in scan. Finally, scan alone returns:
[["111", "1"], ["22", "2"], ["1", "1"]]
…so we need to run through and keep just the first item in each array. In Ruby 1.8.6+ (which doesn't have Symbol#to_proc for convenience):
p s.scan(/((\d)\2*)/).map{ |x| x.first }
#=> ["111", "22", "1"]
With no Regex, here's a fun one (matching any char) that works in Ruby 1.9.2:
p s.chars.chunk{|c|c}.map{ |n,a| a.join }
#=> ["111", "22", "1"]
Here's another version that should work even in Ruby 1.8.6:
p s.scan(/./).inject([]){|a,c| (a.last && a.last[0]==c[0] ? a.last : a)<<c; a }
# => ["111", "22", "1"]
"111221".gsub(/(.)(\1)*/).to_a
#=> ["111", "22", "1"]
This uses the form of String#gsub that does not have a block and therefore returns an enumerator. It appears gsub was bestowed with that option in v2.0.
I found that this works, it first matches each character in one group, and then it matches any of the same character after it. This results in an array of two element arrays, with the first element of each array being the initial match, and then the second element being any additional repeated characters that match the first character. These arrays are joined back together to get an array of repeated characters:
input = "WWBWWWWBBBWWWWWWWB3333!!!!"
repeated_chars = input.scan(/(.)(\1*)/)
# => [["W", "W"], ["B", ""], ["W", "WWW"], ["B", "BB"], ["W", "WWWWWW"], ["B", ""], ["3", "333"], ["!", "!!!"]]
repeated_chars.map(&:join)
# => ["WW", "B", "WWWW", "BBB", "WWWWWWW", "B", "3333", "!!!!"]
As an alternative I found that I could create a new Regexp object to match one or more occurrences of each unique characters in the input string as follows:
input = "WWBWWWWBBBWWWWWWWB3333!!!!"
regexp = Regexp.new("#{input.chars.uniq.join("+|")}+")
#=> regexp created for this example will look like: /W+|B+|3+|!+/
and then use that Regex object as an argument for scan to split out all the repeated characters, as follows:
input.scan(regexp)
# => ["WW", "B", "WWWW", "BBB", "WWWWWWW", "B", "3333", "!!!!"]
you can try is
string str ="111221";
string pattern =#"(\d)(\1)+";
Hope can help you

What is the best way to convert an array to a hash in Ruby

In Ruby, given an array in one of the following forms...
[apple, 1, banana, 2]
[[apple, 1], [banana, 2]]
...what is the best way to convert this into a hash in the form of...
{apple => 1, banana => 2}
Simply use Hash[*array_variable.flatten]
For example:
a1 = ['apple', 1, 'banana', 2]
h1 = Hash[*a1.flatten(1)]
puts "h1: #{h1.inspect}"
a2 = [['apple', 1], ['banana', 2]]
h2 = Hash[*a2.flatten(1)]
puts "h2: #{h2.inspect}"
Using Array#flatten(1) limits the recursion so Array keys and values work as expected.
NOTE: For a concise and efficient solution, please see Marc-André Lafortune's answer below.
This answer was originally offered as an alternative to approaches using flatten, which were the most highly upvoted at the time of writing. I should have clarified that I didn't intend to present this example as a best practice or an efficient approach. Original answer follows.
Warning! Solutions using flatten will not preserve Array keys or values!
Building on #John Topley's popular answer, let's try:
a3 = [ ['apple', 1], ['banana', 2], [['orange','seedless'], 3] ]
h3 = Hash[*a3.flatten]
This throws an error:
ArgumentError: odd number of arguments for Hash
from (irb):10:in `[]'
from (irb):10
The constructor was expecting an Array of even length (e.g. ['k1','v1,'k2','v2']). What's worse is that a different Array which flattened to an even length would just silently give us a Hash with incorrect values.
If you want to use Array keys or values, you can use map:
h3 = Hash[a3.map {|key, value| [key, value]}]
puts "h3: #{h3.inspect}"
This preserves the Array key:
h3: {["orange", "seedless"]=>3, "apple"=>1, "banana"=>2}
The best way is to use Array#to_h:
[ [:apple,1],[:banana,2] ].to_h #=> {apple: 1, banana: 2}
Note that to_h also accepts a block:
[:apple, :banana].to_h { |fruit| [fruit, "I like #{fruit}s"] }
# => {apple: "I like apples", banana: "I like bananas"}
Note: to_h accepts a block in Ruby 2.6.0+; for early rubies you can use my backports gem and require 'backports/2.6.0/enumerable/to_h'
to_h without a block was introduced in Ruby 2.1.0.
Before Ruby 2.1, one could use the less legible Hash[]:
array = [ [:apple,1],[:banana,2] ]
Hash[ array ] #= > {:apple => 1, :banana => 2}
Finally, be wary of any solutions using flatten, this could create problems with values that are arrays themselves.
Update
Ruby 2.1.0 is released today. And I comes with Array#to_h (release notes and ruby-doc), which solves the issue of converting an Array to a Hash.
Ruby docs example:
[[:foo, :bar], [1, 2]].to_h # => {:foo => :bar, 1 => 2}
Edit: Saw the responses posted while I was writing, Hash[a.flatten] seems the way to go.
Must have missed that bit in the documentation when I was thinking through the response. Thought the solutions that I've written can be used as alternatives if required.
The second form is simpler:
a = [[:apple, 1], [:banana, 2]]
h = a.inject({}) { |r, i| r[i.first] = i.last; r }
a = array, h = hash, r = return-value hash (the one we accumulate in), i = item in the array
The neatest way that I can think of doing the first form is something like this:
a = [:apple, 1, :banana, 2]
h = {}
a.each_slice(2) { |i| h[i.first] = i.last }
You can also simply convert a 2D array into hash using:
1.9.3p362 :005 > a= [[1,2],[3,4]]
=> [[1, 2], [3, 4]]
1.9.3p362 :006 > h = Hash[a]
=> {1=>2, 3=>4}
Summary & TL;DR:
This answer hopes to be a comprehensive wrap-up of information from other answers.
The very short version, given the data from the question plus a couple extras:
flat_array = [ apple, 1, banana, 2 ] # count=4
nested_array = [ [apple, 1], [banana, 2] ] # count=2 of count=2 k,v arrays
incomplete_f = [ apple, 1, banana ] # count=3 - missing last value
incomplete_n = [ [apple, 1], [banana ] ] # count=2 of either k or k,v arrays
# there's one option for flat_array:
h1 = Hash[*flat_array] # => {apple=>1, banana=>2}
# two options for nested_array:
h2a = nested_array.to_h # since ruby 2.1.0 => {apple=>1, banana=>2}
h2b = Hash[nested_array] # => {apple=>1, banana=>2}
# ok if *only* the last value is missing:
h3 = Hash[incomplete_f.each_slice(2).to_a] # => {apple=>1, banana=>nil}
# always ok for k without v in nested array:
h4 = Hash[incomplete_n] # or .to_h => {apple=>1, banana=>nil}
# as one might expect:
h1 == h2a # => true
h1 == h2b # => true
h1 == h3 # => false
h3 == h4 # => true
Discussion and details follow.
Setup: variables
In order to show the data we'll be using up front, I'll create some variables to represent various possibilities for the data. They fit into the following categories:
Based on what was directly in the question, as a1 and a2:
(Note: I presume that apple and banana were meant to represent variables. As others have done, I'll be using strings from here on so that input and results can match.)
a1 = [ 'apple', 1 , 'banana', 2 ] # flat input
a2 = [ ['apple', 1], ['banana', 2] ] # key/value paired input
Multi-value keys and/or values, as a3:
In some other answers, another possibility was presented (which I expand on here) – keys and/or values may be arrays on their own:
a3 = [ [ 'apple', 1 ],
[ 'banana', 2 ],
[ ['orange','seedless'], 3 ],
[ 'pear', [4, 5] ],
]
Unbalanced array, as a4:
For good measure, I thought I'd add one for a case where we might have an incomplete input:
a4 = [ [ 'apple', 1],
[ 'banana', 2],
[ ['orange','seedless'], 3],
[ 'durian' ], # a spiky fruit pricks us: no value!
]
Now, to work:
Starting with an initially-flat array, a1:
Some have suggested using #to_h (which showed up in Ruby 2.1.0, and can be backported to earlier versions). For an initially-flat array, this doesn't work:
a1.to_h # => TypeError: wrong element type String at 0 (expected array)
Using Hash::[] combined with the splat operator does:
Hash[*a1] # => {"apple"=>1, "banana"=>2}
So that's the solution for the simple case represented by a1.
With an array of key/value pair arrays, a2:
With an array of [key,value] type arrays, there are two ways to go.
First, Hash::[] still works (as it did with *a1):
Hash[a2] # => {"apple"=>1, "banana"=>2}
And then also #to_h works now:
a2.to_h # => {"apple"=>1, "banana"=>2}
So, two easy answers for the simple nested array case.
This remains true even with sub-arrays as keys or values, as with a3:
Hash[a3] # => {"apple"=>1, "banana"=>2, ["orange", "seedless"]=>3, "pear"=>[4, 5]}
a3.to_h # => {"apple"=>1, "banana"=>2, ["orange", "seedless"]=>3, "pear"=>[4, 5]}
But durians have spikes (anomalous structures give problems):
If we've gotten input data that's not balanced, we'll run into problems with #to_h:
a4.to_h # => ArgumentError: wrong array length at 3 (expected 2, was 1)
But Hash::[] still works, just setting nil as the value for durian (and any other array element in a4 that's just a 1-value array):
Hash[a4] # => {"apple"=>1, "banana"=>2, ["orange", "seedless"]=>3, "durian"=>nil}
Flattening - using new variables a5 and a6
A few other answers mentioned flatten, with or without a 1 argument, so let's create some new variables:
a5 = a4.flatten
# => ["apple", 1, "banana", 2, "orange", "seedless" , 3, "durian"]
a6 = a4.flatten(1)
# => ["apple", 1, "banana", 2, ["orange", "seedless"], 3, "durian"]
I chose to use a4 as the base data because of the balance problem we had, which showed up with a4.to_h. I figure calling flatten might be one approach someone might use to try to solve that, which might look like the following.
flatten without arguments (a5):
Hash[*a5] # => {"apple"=>1, "banana"=>2, "orange"=>"seedless", 3=>"durian"}
# (This is the same as calling `Hash[*a4.flatten]`.)
At a naïve glance, this appears to work – but it got us off on the wrong foot with the seedless oranges, thus also making 3 a key and durian a value.
And this, as with a1, just doesn't work:
a5.to_h # => TypeError: wrong element type String at 0 (expected array)
So a4.flatten isn't useful to us, we'd just want to use Hash[a4]
The flatten(1) case (a6):
But what about only partially flattening? It's worth noting that calling Hash::[] using splat on the partially-flattened array (a6) is not the same as calling Hash[a4]:
Hash[*a6] # => ArgumentError: odd number of arguments for Hash
Pre-flattened array, still nested (alternate way of getting a6):
But what if this was how we'd gotten the array in the first place?
(That is, comparably to a1, it was our input data - just this time some of the data can be arrays or other objects.) We've seen that Hash[*a6] doesn't work, but what if we still wanted to get the behavior where the last element (important! see below) acted as a key for a nil value?
In such a situation, there's still a way to do this, using Enumerable#each_slice to get ourselves back to key/value pairs as elements in the outer array:
a7 = a6.each_slice(2).to_a
# => [["apple", 1], ["banana", 2], [["orange", "seedless"], 3], ["durian"]]
Note that this ends up getting us a new array that isn't "identical" to a4, but does have the same values:
a4.equal?(a7) # => false
a4 == a7 # => true
And thus we can again use Hash::[]:
Hash[a7] # => {"apple"=>1, "banana"=>2, ["orange", "seedless"]=>3, "durian"=>nil}
# or Hash[a6.each_slice(2).to_a]
But there's a problem!
It's important to note that the each_slice(2) solution only gets things back to sanity if the last key was the one missing a value. If we later added an extra key/value pair:
a4_plus = a4.dup # just to have a new-but-related variable name
a4_plus.push(['lychee', 4])
# => [["apple", 1],
# ["banana", 2],
# [["orange", "seedless"], 3], # multi-value key
# ["durian"], # missing value
# ["lychee", 4]] # new well-formed item
a6_plus = a4_plus.flatten(1)
# => ["apple", 1, "banana", 2, ["orange", "seedless"], 3, "durian", "lychee", 4]
a7_plus = a6_plus.each_slice(2).to_a
# => [["apple", 1],
# ["banana", 2],
# [["orange", "seedless"], 3], # so far so good
# ["durian", "lychee"], # oops! key became value!
# [4]] # and we still have a key without a value
a4_plus == a7_plus # => false, unlike a4 == a7
And the two hashes we'd get from this are different in important ways:
ap Hash[a4_plus] # prints:
{
"apple" => 1,
"banana" => 2,
[ "orange", "seedless" ] => 3,
"durian" => nil, # correct
"lychee" => 4 # correct
}
ap Hash[a7_plus] # prints:
{
"apple" => 1,
"banana" => 2,
[ "orange", "seedless" ] => 3,
"durian" => "lychee", # incorrect
4 => nil # incorrect
}
(Note: I'm using awesome_print's ap just to make it easier to show the structure here; there's no conceptual requirement for this.)
So the each_slice solution to an unbalanced flat input only works if the unbalanced bit is at the very end.
Take-aways:
Whenever possible, set up input to these things as [key, value] pairs (a sub-array for each item in the outer array).
When you can indeed do that, either #to_h or Hash::[] will both work.
If you're unable to, Hash::[] combined with the splat (*) will work, so long as inputs are balanced.
With an unbalanced and flat array as input, the only way this will work at all reasonably is if the last value item is the only one that's missing.
Side-note: I'm posting this answer because I feel there's value to be added – some of the existing answers have incorrect information, and none (that I read) gave as complete an answer as I'm endeavoring to do here. I hope that it's helpful. I nevertheless give thanks to those who came before me, several of whom provided inspiration for portions of this answer.
Appending to the answer but using anonymous arrays and annotating:
Hash[*("a,b,c,d".split(',').zip([1,2,3,4]).flatten)]
Taking that answer apart, starting from the inside:
"a,b,c,d" is actually a string.
split on commas into an array.
zip that together with the following array.
[1,2,3,4] is an actual array.
The intermediate result is:
[[a,1],[b,2],[c,3],[d,4]]
flatten then transforms that to:
["a",1,"b",2,"c",3,"d",4]
and then:
*["a",1,"b",2,"c",3,"d",4] unrolls that into
"a",1,"b",2,"c",3,"d",4
which we can use as the arguments to the Hash[] method:
Hash[*("a,b,c,d".split(',').zip([1,2,3,4]).flatten)]
which yields:
{"a"=>1, "b"=>2, "c"=>3, "d"=>4}
if you have array that looks like this -
data = [["foo",1,2,3,4],["bar",1,2],["foobar",1,"*",3,5,:foo]]
and you want the first elements of each array to become the keys for the hash and the rest of the elements becoming value arrays, then you can do something like this -
data_hash = Hash[data.map { |key| [key.shift, key] }]
#=>{"foo"=>[1, 2, 3, 4], "bar"=>[1, 2], "foobar"=>[1, "*", 3, 5, :foo]}
Not sure if it's the best way, but this works:
a = ["apple", 1, "banana", 2]
m1 = {}
for x in (a.length / 2).times
m1[a[x*2]] = a[x*2 + 1]
end
b = [["apple", 1], ["banana", 2]]
m2 = {}
for x,y in b
m2[x] = y
end
For performance and memory allocation concerns please check my answer to Rails mapping array of hashes onto single hash where I bench-marked several solutions.
reduce / inject can be the fastest or the slowest solution depending on which method you use it which.
If the numeric values are seq indexes, then we could have simpler ways...
Here's my code submission, My Ruby is a bit rusty
input = ["cat", 1, "dog", 2, "wombat", 3]
hash = Hash.new
input.each_with_index {|item, index|
if (index%2 == 0) hash[item] = input[index+1]
}
hash #=> {"cat"=>1, "wombat"=>3, "dog"=>2}

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