Alias for array or hash element in Ruby - ruby

Example for array
arr = ["a", "b", "c"]
# TODO create an alias for arr[1] as x
x = "X"
# arr should be ["a", "X", "c"] here
Example for hash
hash = { :a => "aaa", :b => "bbb" , :c => "ccc" }
# TODO create an alias for hash[:b] as y
y = "YYY"
# hash should be { :a => "aaa", :b => "YYY" , :c => "ccc" } here
And also an alias for a variable?
var = 5
# TODO create an alias for var as z
z = 7
# var should be 7 here
Motivation: I have a big large deep construct of data, and you can imagine the rest. I want to use it in a read-only manner, but due to performance reasons copy is not permissible.
Metaphor: I want to choose context from a larger data structure and I want to access it with a short and simple name.
UPDATE: Problem solved as sepp2k advised. I just want to draw a summarizing picture here about the solution.
irb(main):001:0> arr = [ { "a" => 1, "b" => 2}, { "x" => 7, "y" => 8 } ]
=> [{"a"=>1, "b"=>2}, {"x"=>7, "y"=>8}]
irb(main):002:0> i = arr[0]
=> {"a"=>1, "b"=>2}
irb(main):004:0> j = arr[1]
=> {"x"=>7, "y"=>8}
irb(main):007:0> j["z"] = 9
=> 9
irb(main):008:0> j
=> {"x"=>7, "y"=>8, "z"=>9}
irb(main):009:0> arr
=> [{"a"=>1, "b"=>2}, {"x"=>7, "y"=>8, "z"=>9}]

What you want is not possible. There is no feature in ruby that you could use to make your examples work like you want.
However since you're saying you want to only use it read-only, there is no need for that. You can just do x = myNestedStructure[foo][bar][baz]. There will be no copying involved when you do that. Assignment does not copy the assigned object in ruby.

You would have to create a method that is your alias, which would update the data.
def y=(value)
arr[:b]=value
end
Then call it.
self.y="foo"
Edit: updated second code snippet.

Related

Ruby non consistent results with scanned string's length

I may not be having the whole picture here but I am getting inconsistent results with a calculation: I am trying to solve the run length encoding problem so that if you get an input string like "AAABBAAACCCAA" the encoding will be: "3A2B3A3C2A" so the functions is:
def encode(input)
res = ""
input.scan(/(.)\1*/i) do |match|
res << input[/(?<bes>#{match}+)/, "bes"].length.to_s << match[0].to_s
end
res
end
The results I am getting are:
irb(main):049:0> input = "AAABBBCCCDDD"
=> "AAABBBCCCDDD"
irb(main):050:0> encode(input)
(a) => "3A3B3C3D"
irb(main):051:0> input = "AAABBBCCCAAA"
=> "AAABBBCCCAAA"
irb(main):052:0> encode(input)
(b) => "3A3B3C3A"
irb(main):053:0> input = "AAABBBCCAAA"
=> "AAABBBCCAAA"
irb(main):054:0> encode(input)
(c) => "3A3B2C3A"
irb(main):055:0> input = "AAABBBCCAAAA"
=> "AAABBBCCAAAA"
irb(main):056:0> encode(input)
(d) => "3A3B2C3A"
irb(main):057:0> input = 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWB'
=> "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWB"
irb(main):058:0> encode(input)
(e) => "12W1B12W1B12W1B"
As you can see, results (a) through (c) are correct, but results (d) and (e) are missing some repetitions and the resulting code is several letters short, can you give a hint as to where to check, please? (I am learning to use 'pry' right now)
Regular expressions are great, but they're not the golden hammer for every problem.
str = "AAABBAAACCCAA"
str.chars.chunk_while { |i, j| i == j }.map { |a| "#{a.size}#{a.first}" }.join
Breaking down what it does:
str = "AAABBAAACCCAA"
str.chars # => ["A", "A", "A", "B", "B", "A", "A", "A", "C", "C", "C", "A", "A"]
.chunk_while { |i, j| i == j } # => #<Enumerator: #<Enumerator::Generator:0x007fc1998ac020>:each>
.to_a # => [["A", "A", "A"], ["B", "B"], ["A", "A", "A"], ["C", "C", "C"], ["A", "A"]]
.map { |a| "#{a.size}#{a.first}" } # => ["3A", "2B", "3A", "3C", "2A"]
.join # => "3A2B3A3C2A"
to_a is there for illustration, but isn't necessary:
str = "AAABBAAACCCAA"
str.chars
.chunk_while { |i, j| i == j }
.map { |a| "#{a.size}#{a.first}" }
.join # => "3A2B3A3C2A"
how do you get to know such methods as Array#chunk_while? I am using Ruby 2.3.1 but cannot find it in the API docs, I mean, where is the compendium list of all the methods available? certainly not here ruby-doc.org/core-2.3.1/Array.html
Well, this is off-topic to the question but it's useful information to know:
Remember that Array includes the Enumerable module, which contains chunk_while. Use the search functionality of http://ruby-doc.org to find where things live. Also, get familiar with using ri at the command line, and try running gem server at the command-line to get the help for all the gems you've installed.
If you look at the Array documentation page, on the left you can see that Array has a parent class of Object, so it'll have the methods from Object, and that it also inherits from Enumerable, so it'll also pull in whatever is implemented in Enumerable.
You only get the count of the matched symbol repetitions that occur first. You need to perform a replacement within a gsub and pass the match object to a block where you can perform the necessary manipulations:
def encode(input)
input.gsub(/(.)\1*/) { |m| m.length.to_s << m[0] }
end
See the online Ruby test.
Results:
"AAABBBCCCDDD" => 3A3B3C3D
"AAABBBCCCAAA" => 3A3B3C3A
"AAABBBCCAAA" => 3A3B2C3A
"AAABBBCCAAAA" => 3A3B2C4A
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWB" => 12W1B12W3B24W1B

How to make a custom proc in a class so I can do: params_hash.downcase_keys instead of downcase_keys(params_hash)?

I have a hash of key values and I want to downcase all of the Keys.
However I don't want to have to create an local variable, I would rather functionally do it.
NOT:
x = downcase_keys(params_hash)
BUT THIS:
params_hash.downcase_keys
How would do this in ruby?
I do not understand why you tagged this question as functional-programming it seems you are looking for a method to call on a Hash object.
Be aware that you may encounter problems doing so because duplicated keys are going to be overwritten.
h = {"a" => 1, "B" => 2}
# Singleton method on the object
def h.downcase_keys
temp = map {|k,v| [k.downcase, v]}.to_h
clear
merge! temp
end
h.downcase_keys()
p h # {"a"=>1, "b"=>2}
# Method available on all Hash objects
class Hash
def downcase_keys
temp = map {|k,v| [k.downcase, v]}.to_h
clear
merge! temp
end
end
h = {"a" => 1, "B" => 2}
h.downcase_keys()
p h # {"a"=>1, "b"=>2}
def downcase_keys(hash)
hash.downcase_keys
end
h = {"C" => 1, "B" => 2, "D" => 3}
downcase_keys(h)
p h # {"c"=>1, "b"=>2, "d"=>3}

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.

how can I programmatically identify which keys have sub key-value-pairs in a JSON doc? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Flattening nested hash to a single hash with Ruby/Rails
(6 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I fetch a JSON document and need to programmatically "flatten" the keys for another third-party service.
What this means is, if my JSON doc comes back with the following:
{'first_name' => "Joe", 'hoffman' => {'patterns' => ['negativity', 'self-sabotage'], 'right_road' => 'happy family'}, 'mbti' => 'INTJ'}
I need to be able to know to create a "flat" key-value pair for a third-party service like this:
first_name = "Joe"
hoffman.patterns = "negativity, self-sabotage"
hoffman.right_road = "happy family"
mbti = "INTJ"
Once I know there's a sub-document, the parsing I think I have figured out just appending the sub-keys with key + '.' + "{subkey}" but right now, don't know which ones are straight key-value and which one's have sub-documents.
Question:
a) How can I parse the JSON to know which keys have sub-documents (additional key-values)?
b) Suggestions on ways to create a string from an array
You could also monkey patch Hash to do this on it's own like so:
class Hash
def flatten_keys(prefix=nil)
each_pair.map do |k,v|
key = [prefix,k].compact.join(".")
v.is_a?(Hash) ? v.flatten_keys(key) : [key,v.is_a?(Array) ? v.join(", ") : v]
end.flatten.each_slice(2).to_a
end
def to_flat_hash
Hash[flatten_keys]
end
end
Then it would be
require 'json'
h = JSON.parse(YOUR_JSON_RESPONSE)
#=> {'first_name' => "Joe", 'hoffman' => {'patterns' => ['negativity', 'self-sabotage'], 'right_road' => 'happy family'}, 'mbti' => 'INTJ'}
h.to_flat_hash
#=> {"first_name"=>"Joe", "hoffman.patterns"=>"negativity, self-sabotage", "hoffman.right_road"=>"happy family", "mbti"=>"INTJ"}
Will work with additional nesting too
h = {"first_name"=>"Joe", "hoffman"=>{"patterns"=>["negativity", "self-sabotage"], "right_road"=>"happy family", "wrong_road"=>{"bad_choices"=>["alcohol", "heroin"]}}, "mbti"=>"INTJ"}
h.to_flat_hash
#=> {"first_name"=>"Joe", "hoffman.patterns"=>"negativity, self-sabotage", "hoffman.right_road"=>"happy family", "hoffman.wrong_road.bad_choices"=>"alcohol, heroin", "mbti"=>"INTJ"}
Quick and dirty recursive proc:
# assuming you've already `JSON.parse` the incoming json into this hash:
a = {'first_name' => "Joe", 'hoffman' => {'patterns' => ['negativity', 'self-sabotage'], 'right_road' => 'happy family'}, 'mbti' => 'INTJ'}
# define a recursive proc:
flatten_keys = -> (h, prefix = "") do
#flattened_keys ||= {}
h.each do |key, value|
# Here we check if there's "sub documents" by asking if the value is a Hash
# we also pass in the name of the current prefix and key and append a . to it
if value.is_a? Hash
flatten_keys.call value, "#{prefix}#{key}."
else
# if not we concatenate the key and the prefix and add it to the #flattened_keys hash
#flattened_keys["#{prefix}#{key}"] = value
end
end
#flattened_keys
end
flattened = flatten_keys.call a
# => "first_name"=>"Joe", "hoffman.patterns"=>["negativity", "self-sabotage"], "hoffman.right_road"=>"happy family", "mbti"=>"INTJ"}
And then, to turn the arrays into strings just join them:
flattened.inject({}) do |hash, (key, value)|
value = value.join(', ') if value.is_a? Array
hash.merge! key => value
end
# => {"first_name"=>"Joe", "hoffman.patterns"=>"negativity, self-sabotage", "hoffman.right_road"=>"happy family", "mbti"=>"INTJ"}
Another way, inspired by this post:
def flat_hash(h,f=[],g={})
return g.update({ f=>h }) unless h.is_a? Hash
h.each { |k,r| flat_hash(r,f+[k],g) }
g
end
h = { :a => { :b => { :c => 1,
:d => 2 },
:e => 3 },
:f => 4 }
result = {}
flat_hash(h) #=> {[:a, :b, :c]=>1, [:a, :b, :d]=>2, [:a, :e]=>3, [:f]=>4}
.each{ |k, v| result[k.join('.')] = v } #=> {"a.b.c"=>1, "a.b.d"=>2, "a.e"=>3, "f"=>4}

The confusing Ruby method returns value

I have Ruby code:
def test_111(hash)
n = nil
3.times do |c|
if n
n[c] = c
else
n = hash
end
end
end
a = {}
test_111(a)
p a
Why it print {1=>1, 2=>2}, not the {} ??
In the test_111 method, the hash and the a use the same memory?
How can the a value be changed in the test_111 method?
I can't understand
Hashes are passed by reference. So, when you change a method parameter (which is a Hash), you change the original hash.
To avoid this, you should clone the hash.
test_111(a.dup)
This will create a shallow copy (that is, it will not clone child hashes that you may have).
A little illustration of what shallow copy is:
def mutate hash
hash[:new] = 1
hash[:existing][:value] = 2
hash
end
h = {existing: {value: 1}}
mutate h # => {:existing=>{:value=>2}, :new=>1}
# new member added, existing member changed
h # => {:existing=>{:value=>2}, :new=>1}
h = {existing: {value: 1}}
mutate h.dup # => {:existing=>{:value=>2}, :new=>1}
# existing member changed, no new members
h # => {:existing=>{:value=>2}}
In ruby, just about every object is passed by reference. This means when you do something as simple as
a = b
unless a was one of the simple types, after this assignment a and b will point to the same thing.
This means if you alter the second variable, the first is affected the same way:
irb(main):001:0> x = "a string"
=> "a string"
irb(main):002:0> y = x
=> "a string"
irb(main):003:0> x[1,0] = "nother"
=> "nother"
irb(main):004:0> x
=> "another string"
irb(main):005:0> y
=> "another string"
irb(main):006:0>
and of course the same applies for hashes:
irb(main):006:0> a = { :a => 1 }
=> {:a=>1}
irb(main):007:0> b = a
=> {:a=>1}
irb(main):008:0> a[:b] = 2
=> 2
irb(main):009:0> a
=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}
irb(main):010:0> b
=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}
irb(main):011:0>
If you don't want this to happen, use .dup or .clone:
irb(main):001:0> a = "a string"
=> "a string"
irb(main):002:0> b = a.dup
=> "a string"
irb(main):003:0> a[1,0] = "nother"
=> "nother"
irb(main):004:0> a
=> "another string"
irb(main):005:0> b
=> "a string"
irb(main):006:0>
For most people dup and clone have the same effect.
So if you write a function that modifies one of its parameters, unless you specifically want those changes to be seen by the code that calls the function, you should first dup the parameter being modified:
def test_111(hash)
hash = hash.dup
# etc
end
The behavior of your code is called a side effect - a change to the program's state that isn't a core part of the function. Side effects are generally to be avoided.

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