# First post **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 8, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/first-post/186496 "2010-04-08T01:02:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![superflyy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@superflyy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/superflyy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/first-post/186496/1 "2010-04-08T01:02:44Z")
## Hello I am new to Ruby and programming. I hate to just dump code here so if you don’t feel like responding I understand. I am trying to import two text files, one containing names and one containing text. I did this using : ## def namez $fbNamez = [] nf = File.open(“names.txt”, “r”) nf.each\_line { |line| $fbNamez.push line } nf.close puts $fbNamez end ## def threadz $fbThreadz = [] tf = File.open(“thread.txt”, “r”) tf.each\_line { |line| $fbThreadz.push line} tf.close puts $fbThreadz end I know this cannot be the best way to do this but it was all I muster. The goal was to iterate through the array of names and extrapolate data relative to the thread.txt file. Example: The names.txt file reads as so: John D. Jane Doe Donald Duck Donald Notreal Mike M.s ## The threadz.txt reads as so: John D. March 9 at 4:09pm Reply ok so who likes steph more than Sonia… cuz i do Jane Doe March 9 at 4:13pm Reply hahahahah what aaaan asshole John D. March 9 at 4:18pm Reply hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa Donald Duck March 9 at 4:50pm Reply seriously, lets take a vote all in favor say I Donald Notreal March 9 at 4:51pm Reply aye ## Mike M.s March 9 at 4:52pm Reply aye… dont give a shit really I would like to learn how to make this program grab the first name in the array, use it to search the thread.txt for posts using the name as a delimiter? I want to have it return results for: how many posts? who posted the most? who posted the least? who said the most bad words? Searching for text. How can I teach my program to recognize posts? Can the date and time be manipulated or used to my advantage? I am currently using “Beginning Ruby” by Peter C… Here is the ugly code… sorry once again. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------///////////////ThreadReader1.0\\\\\\\\\\\\\ class Texfun ``` #Names Array values = 0 - 20 def namez $fbNamez = [] nf = File.open("names.txt", "r") nf.each_line { |line| $fbNamez.push line } nf.close puts $fbNamez end ``` #Thread Array ~~Values 0-1913~~~~ def threadz $fbThreadz = [] tf = File.open(“thread.txt”, “r”) tf.each\_line { |line| $fbThreadz.push line} tf.close puts $fbThreadz end #Number of Posts def post\_counter text = $fbThreadz.join total\_posts = “Total Number of posts: #{text.split(“Reply”).length}” end #name finder def look e = gets.to\_i puts $fbNamez end end ## printer = Texfun.new printer.look Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![superflyy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@superflyy](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/superflyy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/first-post/186496/2 "2010-04-08T02:56:57Z")
On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 6:02 PM, Alexander Santoro \< removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid\> wrote: > ``` > puts $fbNamez > end > > ``` > > * * * Variables that begin with $ are global variables. Using globals is frowned upon, because it makes the flow of control very difficult to follow. A better approach would be to use local variables, and have the function return the results (by default, the function will always return whatever the last line evaluates to) The file open and close thing is also not the best way to do this, a better approach would be to open the file and pass it a block, then let it pass back the file variable. This will ensure that the file gets closed correctly, and I think makes the code quite a bit cleaner. The indentation conventions you’ve used aren’t standard for Ruby. They won’t break anything, but people are likely to be irritated by it. Usually, try to indent two spaces. Ruby naming conventions have local variables as snake\_case rather than camelCase, so fbThreadz should be fb\_threadz So you might rewrite like this. def namez fb\_namez = Array.new File.open( “names.txt”, “r” ) do |nf| nf.each\_line { |line| fb\_namez.push line } end puts fb\_namez fb\_namez end But, there is fortunately an even easier way than this. You can use the readlines method to pull out all the lines def namez fb\_namez = File.readlines(“names.txt”) puts fb\_namez fb\_namez end fb\_namez at the end there just returns our results. But really, this function shouldn’t be printing these names out, that is a very specific job that makes the method useless to anyone else who wants to get a list of names but not print them. Whoever calls this method should be the one printing the names. Which means we have no need for this fb\_namez variable at all. So then we can just do def namez File.readlines “names.txt” end puts namez I know this cannot be the best way to do this but it was all I muster. > John D. March 9 at 4:18pm Reply > Mike M.s March 9 at 4:52pm Reply > aye… dont give a shit really > > * * * Unfortunately I think you are going to run into issues when you go to delimit your file. How do you know where one post ends and the next begins? What if someone makes a post that quotes someone else? For example, what if John D. quotes Jane doe and his post looks like this "I can’t believe Jane said: Jane Doe March 9 at 4:13pm Reply hahahahah what aaaan asshole" If you are creating this file, then I think you should put in specific delimiters, so that you can easily tell when a new post starts. Also, just so you know, calling your array Threadz is kind of confusing, because when someone reads something like text = $fbThreadz.join They are probably going to think you are Ruby’s Thread class, [http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Thread.html#M000462](http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Thread.html#M000462)