Getting a n-th key-value pair from a hash

Ruby
1

Hi!

suppose I have this hash:

data = { “a” => 1, “b” => 2, “c” => 3 }

I’d like to get a random pair from the hash.

so

data.get_pair(data.rand)

should return [“b”, 2] for example.

How could this be done? I cannot find any method in the documentation.

Thank You!

david

2

D. Krmpotic wrote:

data.get_pair(data.rand)

should return [“b”, 2] for example.

How could this be done? I cannot find any method in the documentation.

class Hash
def get_rand_pair
key = self.keys[rand(self.length)]
[key, self[key]]
end
end

3

On 3/23/07, D. Krmpotic [email protected] wrote:

data.get_pair(data.rand)

should return [“b”, 2] for example.

How could this be done? I cannot find any method in the documentation.

Thank You!

david

class Hash

def random_pair
to_a[rand(size)]
end
end

Note that what you asked for here is not getting the n-th pair as your
title suggests. That’s problematical with a hash since hashes have no
defined ordering.

But to get a random key-value pair this should work.

Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/

4

Great! Thank you both… didn’t think of those simple solutions.