One can sort the arrays but that can be an expensive operation if the arrays are large. If n equals the size of the array, the time complexity of heapsort, for example, is O(n log(n)). It's faster to replace arrays with counting hashes, the construction of which enjoys a time complexity of O(n).
h1 = { 'k1' => [1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1], 'k2' => 'c' }
h2 = { 'k1' => [3, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1], 'k2' => 'c' }
def same?(h1, h2)
return false unless h1.size == h2.size
h1.all? do |k,v|
if h2.key?(k)
vo = h2[k]
if v.is_a?(Array)
if vo.is_a?(Array)
convert(v) == convert(vo)
end
else
v == vo
end
end
end
end
def convert(arr)
arr.each_with_object(Hash.new(0)) { |e,g| g[e] += 1 }
end
same?(h1, h2)
#=> true
Here
convert([1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1])
#=> {1=>3, 2=>2, 3=>1}
convert([3, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1])
#=> {3=>1, 2=>2, 1=>3}
and
{1=>3, 2=>2, 3=>1} == {3=>1, 2=>2, 1=>3}
#=> true
See Hash::new, specifically the case where the method takes an argument that equals the default value.
The guard clause return false unless h1.size == h2.size is to ensure that h2 does not have keys that are not present in h1. Note that the following returns the falsy value nil:
if false
#...
end
#=> nil
In a couple of places I've written that rather than the more verbose but equivalent expresion
if false
#...
else
nil
end
A == Bwould just automatically work.