Extreme Ruby/Rails novice here: I'm trying to link_to a search action for each individual post contained in a block:
<% split_tags = post.tags.split(',') %> # returns ["food", "computers", "health"] %>
<p>Keywords: <%= split_tags.each {|tag| link_to(tag, front_search_tag_path(:tag => tag))}) %></p>
but all it returns is Keywords: ["food", "computers", "health"].
Shouldn't .each iterate over the array and provide a link to each search_tag_path with the tag as a parameter?
Nope, #each just performs a block, it does not accumulate any data.
[1, 2, 3].each{ |n| "Link to item #{n}" } #=> [1, 2, 3]
You have two options, use map to accumulate data:
[1, 2, 3].map{ |n| "Link to item #{n}" }.join("\n") #=> "Link to item 1\nLink to item 2\nLink to item 3"
Or output directly in the block:
[1, 2, 3].each{ |n| puts "Link to item #{n}" }
Prints:
Link to item 1
Link to item 2
Link to item 3
In your case this would be the following two options. I prefer the latter.
<p>Keywords: <%=raw split_tags.map{|tag| link_to(tag)}.join %></p>
<p> Keywords:
<% split_tags.each do |tag| %>
<%= link_to(tag) %>
<% end %>
</p>
You probably meant
<% split_tags = post.tags.split(',') %> # returns ["food", "computers", "health"] %>
<p>Keywords:
<% split_tags.each do |tag| %>
<%= link_to(tag, front_search_tag_path(:tag => tag)) %>
<% end %>
</p>
or
<% split_tags = post.tags.split(',') %> # returns ["food", "computers", "health"] %>
<p>Keywords:
<%= split_tags.map{|tag| link_to(tag, front_search_tag_path(:tag => tag))}.join %>
</p>
No, the return value for Array#each is the array itself (see http://www.ruby-doc.org/core-1.9.3/Array.html#method-i-each)
You will want to use Array#collect (or its alias, map) which will return an array of the links (see http://www.ruby-doc.org/core-1.9.3/Array.html#method-i-map). You can then turn that array into a single string with join. So, your code would look like
<% split_tags = post.tags.split(',') %>
<p>Keywords: <%= split_tags.collect {|tag| link_to(tag, front_search_tag_path(:tag => tag))}).join %></p>
However that might require the .html_safe after the .join. Better yet, do something like:
<% split_tags = post.tags.split(',') %>
<p>Keywords:
<% split_tags.each do |tag| %>
<%= link_to(tag, front_search_tag_path(:tag => tag)) %>
<% end %>
</p>
.eachreturns the original Array, so you want <% .each do |tag| %><%= link_to ... %><% end %>