Class: Array

An array is blank if it's empty:

[].blank?      # => true
[1,2,3].blank? # => false

Returns a deep copy of array.

array = [1, [2, 3]]
dup   = array.deep_dup
dup[1][2] = 4

array[1][2] # => nil
dup[1][2]   # => 4

Extracts options from a set of arguments. Removes and returns the last element in the array if it's a hash, otherwise returns a blank hash.

def options(*args)
  args.extract_options!
end

options(1, 2)        # => {}
options(1, 2, a: :b) # => {:a=>:b}

Equal to self[4].

%w( a b c d e ).fifth # => "e"

Equal to self[41]. Also known as accessing “the reddit”.

(1..42).to_a.forty_two # => 42

Equal to self[3].

%w( a b c d e ).fourth # => "d"

Returns the tail of the array from position.

%w( a b c d ).from(0)  # => ["a", "b", "c", "d"]
%w( a b c d ).from(2)  # => ["c", "d"]
%w( a b c d ).from(10) # => []
%w().from(0)           # => []
%w( a b c d ).from(-2) # => ["c", "d"]
%w( a b c ).from(-10)  # => []

Splits or iterates over the array in number of groups, padding any remaining slots with fill_with unless it is false.

%w(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10).in_groups(3) {|group| p group}
["1", "2", "3", "4"]
["5", "6", "7", nil]
["8", "9", "10", nil]

%w(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10).in_groups(3, ' ') {|group| p group}
["1", "2", "3", "4"]
["5", "6", "7", " "]
["8", "9", "10", " "]

%w(1 2 3 4 5 6 7).in_groups(3, false) {|group| p group}
["1", "2", "3"]
["4", "5"]
["6", "7"]

Splits or iterates over the array in groups of size number, padding any remaining slots with fill_with unless it is false.

%w(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10).in_groups_of(3) {|group| p group}
["1", "2", "3"]
["4", "5", "6"]
["7", "8", "9"]
["10", nil, nil]

%w(1 2 3 4 5).in_groups_of(2, ' ') {|group| p group}
["1", "2"]
["3", "4"]
["5", " "]

%w(1 2 3 4 5).in_groups_of(2, false) {|group| p group}
["1", "2"]
["3", "4"]
["5"]

The human way of thinking about adding stuff to the beginning of a list is with prepend.

Equal to self[1].

%w( a b c d e ).second # => "b"

Divides the array into one or more subarrays based on a delimiting value or the result of an optional block.

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].split(3)              # => [[1, 2], [4, 5]]
(1..10).to_a.split { |i| i % 3 == 0 } # => [[1, 2], [4, 5], [7, 8], [10]]

Equal to self[2].

%w( a b c d e ).third # => "c"

Returns the beginning of the array up to position.

%w( a b c d ).to(0)  # => ["a"]
%w( a b c d ).to(2)  # => ["a", "b", "c"]
%w( a b c d ).to(10) # => ["a", "b", "c", "d"]
%w().to(0)           # => []
%w( a b c d ).to(-2) # => ["a", "b", "c"]
%w( a b c ).to(-10)  # => []

Extends #to_s to convert a collection of elements into a comma separated id list if :db argument is given as the format.

Blog.all.to_formatted_s(:db) # => "1,2,3"

Calls to_param on all its elements and joins the result with slashes. This is used by url_for in Action Pack.

Converts an array into a string suitable for use as a URL query string, using the given key as the param name.

['Rails', 'coding'].to_query('hobbies') # => "hobbies%5B%5D=Rails&hobbies%5B%5D=coding"

Alias for #to_formatted_s.

Converts the array to a comma-separated sentence where the last element is joined by the connector word.

You can pass the following options to change the default behavior. If you pass an option key that doesn't exist in the list below, it will raise an ArgumentError.

Options

• :words_connector - The sign or word used to join the elements in arrays with two or more elements (default: “, ”).

• :two_words_connector - The sign or word used to join the elements in arrays with two elements (default: “ and ”).

• :last_word_connector - The sign or word used to join the last element in arrays with three or more elements (default: “, and ”).

• :locale - If i18n is available, you can set a locale and use the connector options defined on the 'support.array' namespace in the corresponding dictionary file.

Examples

[].to_sentence                      # => ""
['one'].to_sentence                 # => "one"
['one', 'two'].to_sentence          # => "one and two"
['one', 'two', 'three'].to_sentence # => "one, two, and three"

['one', 'two'].to_sentence(passing: 'invalid option')
# => ArgumentError: Unknown key :passing

['one', 'two'].to_sentence(two_words_connector: '-')
# => "one-two"

['one', 'two', 'three'].to_sentence(words_connector: ' or ', last_word_connector: ' or at least ')
# => "one or two or at least three"

Using :locale option:

# Given this locale dictionary:
#
#   es:
#     support:
#       array:
#         words_connector: " o "
#         two_words_connector: " y "
#         last_word_connector: " o al menos "

['uno', 'dos'].to_sentence(locale: :es)
# => "uno y dos"

['uno', 'dos', 'tres'].to_sentence(locale: :es)
# => "uno o dos o al menos tres"

Returns a string that represents the array in XML by invoking to_xml on each element. Active Record collections delegate their representation in XML to this method.

All elements are expected to respond to to_xml, if any of them does not then an exception is raised.

The root node reflects the class name of the first element in plural if all elements belong to the same type and that's not ::Hash:

customer.projects.to_xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<projects type="array">
  <project>
    <amount type="decimal">20000.0</amount>
    <customer-id type="integer">1567</customer-id>
    <deal-date type="date">2008-04-09</deal-date>
    #...
  </project>
  <project>
    <amount type="decimal">57230.0</amount>
    <customer-id type="integer">1567</customer-id>
    <deal-date type="date">2008-04-15</deal-date>
    #...
  </project>
</projects>

Otherwise the root element is “objects”:

[{ foo: 1, bar: 2}, { baz: 3}].to_xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<objects type="array">
  <object>
    <bar type="integer">2</bar>
    <foo type="integer">1</foo>
  </object>
  <object>
    <baz type="integer">3</baz>
  </object>
</objects>

If the collection is empty the root element is “nil-classes” by default:

[].to_xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<nil-classes type="array"/>

To ensure a meaningful root element use the :root option:

customer_with_no_projects.projects.to_xml(root: 'projects')

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<projects type="array"/>

By default name of the node for the children of root is root.singularize. You can change it with the :children option.

The options hash is passed downwards:

Message.all.to_xml(skip_types: true)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<messages>
  <message>
    <created-at>2008-03-07T09:58:18+01:00</created-at>
    <id>1</id>
    <name>1</name>
    <updated-at>2008-03-07T09:58:18+01:00</updated-at>
    <user-id>1</user-id>
  </message>
</messages>