I have a variable with a string value. Say:
str = "hello, world"
How can I convert that into an array of the individual characters from the original string?
The desired result for the above example would be:
['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', ',', ' ', 'w', 'o', 'r', 'l', 'd']
I noticed that this page comes up for generic google search of "string to char array ruby".
If you just want to convert string to char array in ruby,
"string".chars
# ["s", "t", "r", "i", "n", "g"]
i don't understand your question, but if you want to convert string to array
>> "a string".split("")
=> ["a", " ", "s", "t", "r", "i", "n", "g"]
str = "a,b,c"
list = str.split(/,/) # => ["a", "b", "c"]
list.join("-") # => "a-b-c"
From your comment, it looks like you want to also append a string (or several strings) to the list and then join back into another string. Perhaps like this:
(str.split(/,/) << 'd').join(',') # => "a,b,c,d"
list2 = ['d', 'e', 'f']
(str.split(/,/) << list2).join(',') # => "a,b,c,d,e,f"
Ruby syntax also allows calling operators with the "dot" notation, so this might clarify the situation:
str.split(/,/).<<('d').join(',') # => "a,b,c,d"
str.split(/,/).<<(list2).join(',') # => "a,b,c,d,e,f"
str = "a,b,c"
=> "a,b,c"
array = str.split(/,/)
=> ["a", "b", "c"]
# add more elements to the str:
str << ',x,y,z'
=> "a,b,c,x,y,z"
array2 = str.split(/,/)
=> ["a", "b", "c", "x", "y", "z"]
but you probably want something like this (process input strings and assemble them in an array):
array = []
str = "a,b,c"
array << str.split(/,/)
=> [["a", "b", "c"]]
str = 'x,y,z'
array << str.split(/,/)
=> [["a", "b", "c"], ["x", "y", "z"]]
array.flatten!
=> ["a", "b", "c", "x", "y", "z"]
If you are trying to have your "list" be a string representation of a collection of names, and you want to add a name to that (also a string) delimited from the rest by (for example) a comma, and have the result be a string, all you need is string concatenation:
list + ',' + name
A nicer way to do this, at least to me, is string interpolation:
"#{list},#{name}"
This makes it clearer that you are manipulating data to format it.
However, if you want to have your "list" converted to an array by splitting it by commas and add the name variable to the end, the answer is essentially the same, with String#split and array concatenation:
list.split(',') + name
Hopefully one of these two is the solution to your problem!
I think the big problem is you're trying to use a string, when you should really be using an array. A second problem is that you're confusing a comma-delimited string with an array or list.
In Ruby, lists and arrays are different objects than strings. Strings are good for storing text and sometimes binary data.
Arrays are good for storing sequences of data, where you need to be able to access them by a numerical index. Queues and stacks are generally written on top of arrays, because arrays make it easy to add and remove elements from the start or end.
For your purpose I'd recommend using an Array object, then join(',') the array when you need the string representation.
ary = [] #=> []
ary << 'item 1' #=> ["item 1"]
ary << 'item 2' #=> ["item 1", "item 2"]
ary.join(',') #=> "item 1,item 2"
don't forget scan
in my case I have a true friend code, a "big" integer (8 digits), for better readability I want to put dashes every 2 digits:
friend_code.scan(/../).join("-")
your solution would be
friend_code.scan(/./).join(",")
