Class Array < Object

Wraps its argument in an array unless it is already an array (or array-like).

Specifically:

• If the argument is nil an empty list is returned.

• Otherwise, if the argument responds to to_ary it is invoked, and its result returned.

• Otherwise, returns an array with the argument as its single element.

  Array.wrap(nil)       # => []
  Array.wrap([1, 2, 3]) # => [1, 2, 3]
  Array.wrap(0)         # => [0]
  

This method is similar in purpose to Kernel#Array, but there are some differences:

• If the argument responds to to_ary the method is invoked. Kernel#Array moves on to try to_a if the returned value is nil, but Array.wrap returns nil right away.

• If the returned value from to_ary is neither nil nor an Array object, Kernel#Array raises an exception, while Array.wrap does not, it just returns the value.

• It does not call to_a on the argument, but returns an empty array if argument is nil.

The second point is easily explained with some enumerables:

Array(foo: :bar)      # => [[:foo, :bar]]
Array.wrap(foo: :bar) # => [{:foo=>:bar}]

There’s also a related idiom that uses the splat operator:

[*object]

which returns [] for nil, but calls to Array(object) otherwise.

The differences with Kernel#Array explained above apply to the rest of objects.

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”.

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)           # => []

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"]

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)           # => []

Converts a collection of elements into a formatted string by calling to_s on all elements and joining them. Having this model:

class Blog < ActiveRecord::Base
  def to_s
    title
  end
end

Blog.all.map(&:title) #=> ["First Post", "Second Post", "Third post"]

to_formatted_s shows us:

Blog.all.to_formatted_s # => "First PostSecond PostThird Post"

Adding in the :db argument as the format yields a comma separated id list:

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"

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>

DEPRECATED: Use Array#uniq instead.

Returns a unique array based on the criteria in the block.

[1, 2, 3, 4].uniq_by { |i| i.odd? } # => [1, 2]

DEPRECATED: Use Array#uniq! instead.

Same as uniq_by, but modifies self.