Modify a string based on a hash

Question

I want to convert a string based on a hash. For e.g., the string "assistant director" gets converted to "asst dir" when the hash contains "assistant"=>"asst" and "director"=>"dir". I want to do something like:

hash = Hash["executive"=>"exec","assistant"=>"asst","associate"=>"assoc","director"=>"dir"]
str = "assistant director"

hash.each { |k, v| str.gsub!(k, v) }  
# => "asst dir"

Based on this post,

hash.each { |k, v| str.gsub!(k, v) }

should be the answer. But it doesn't return the converted string. And neither does str get changed.

@BroiSatse final_str doesn't return anything

echan00
– echan00

2014-04-16 08:43:57 +00:00
Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 8:43 — echan00
– echan00, Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 8:43

Arup Rakshit · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-16 09:16:17Z

4

Another way of doing this is :-

str.gsub!(/\w+/, hash)

String#gsub!

If the second argument is a Hash, and the matched text is one of its keys, the corresponding value is the replacement string.

edited Apr 16, 2014 at 9:16

answered Apr 16, 2014 at 9:10

Arup Rakshit

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Comments

BroiSatse · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-16 08:45:02Z

2

hash.each { |k, v| str.gsub!(k, v) } will return hash.to_a, but it doesn't matter as youa re using gsub! which means that your str is changed in place. Simply do:

hash.each { |k, v| str.gsub!(k, v) }  
str     #=> "asst dir"

answered Apr 16, 2014 at 8:45

BroiSatse

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3 Comments

echan00 Over a year ago

@BroiSatse weird, so if str="Director", then hash.each { |k, v| str.downcase.gsub!(k, v) } doesn't work?

BroiSatse Over a year ago

@echan00 - It's not weird, gsub! modifies given instance of string in place. downcase on the other hand creates a new string instance, so your gsub! modifies that instance instead of your original string. It should be enough to call str.downcase! once before iteration to fix it. (Note the bang - string will be modified in place again.

echan00 Over a year ago

thanks! it was the downcase that was what was tripping me up!

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