I'm trying to convert the return value of the .split() function into a string.
There is a string of characters that is being parsed from a text file, and I need to change it from an array to a string.
After calling the split function, the result is an array, however, I need it to be a string to perform character operations and functions.
example = "--NAME: John Doe"
print example
value = example.split("--NAME: ")
print value.class
value.to_s.strip
print value
print value.class
you can use 'join' to convert the array to string.
With your example, I used 'join' to get string seperated by comma and used 'reject' to remove empty strings if any.
example = "--NAME: John Doe"
value = example.split("--NAME: ")
puts value
["", "John Doe"]
puts value.reject(&:blank?).join(",")
"John Doe"
Simply sub-string your string:
example = "--NAME: John Doe"
example[8..-1]
#=> "John Doe"
While 8 indicates the start position and -1 indicates that the substring should be ended with the last character of the example string since the length of the NAME is a variable.
(?<=--NAME:) Positive lookbehind assertion: ensures that the preceding characters match --NAME:, but doesn't include those characters in the matched text
Strip! to remove leading or trailing spaces in place.
irb(main):018:0>"--NAME: John Doe"[/(?<=--NAME:).*$/].strip!
Step by step:
irb(main):026:0> exampel = "--NAME: John Doe"
=> "--NAME: John Doe"
irb(main):027:0> example = exampel[/(?<=--NAME:).*$/].strip!
=> "John Doe"
irb(main):028:0> example
=> "John Doe"
irb(main):029:0>
Perhaps split() isn't the right tool for your needs?
If you just want to remove the prompt you could try gsub() (https://ruby-doc.org/core-2.4.1/String.html#method-i-gsub). gsub() stands for "global substitution" and in other languages it is often known as replace().
example.gsub("--NAME: ", "")
Will replace the prompt with an empty string and give you:
"John Doe"
(a String)
If you are getting your example string in same formats everytime,
example.split(' ', 2).last
> value = example.split("--NAME: ")
#=> ["", "John Doe"]
> value.join.strip
#=> "John Doe"
split) are needed. Just say what you want to achieve. This may be what's sometimes called an "X-Y Problem"."--NAME: "actually a delimiter? To me it looks more like a prefix / label.