# Gsub help **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [December 13, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163 "2009-12-13T21:34:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kvetch)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163/1 "2009-12-13T21:34:15Z")
I am reading in a file that is basically a csv file but the delimiter is spaces. I am also using fastercsv to parse the file into an array. Before fastercsv reads it I am substituting all spaces into commas with gsub l.gsub!(" ", “,”) I have one column in each row that could contain spaces. For example firstname,lastname,phonenumber,streetname,zip john crichton 555-555-1234 ^A street name with spaces^ 12345 turns into john,crichton,555-555-1234,A,street,name,with,spaces,12345 I can place the column that could contain spaces at the end of each row and then call like this but I would like to preserve those spaces. FasterCSV.parse(l) do |row| name=row[1] lastname=row[2] phone=row[3] zip=row[4] street=row[6…10] Each street name starts with a ^ and ends with a ^. Does anyone know if there is way I can replace all spaces up until the first ^ and then begin again after the last ^ so the street name is preserved with spaces and each column is separated by commas so my result set looks like the following? john,crichton,555-555-1234,A street name with spaces,12345 Thanks ---
**Author:** ![kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kvetch)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163/2 "2009-12-13T22:42:56Z")
Hi, This isn’t particularly efficient or clever, but it should work: “john crichton 555-555-1234 ^A street name with spaces^ 12345”.scan(/(\w+) (\w+) (\S+) ^(.+)^ (\d+)/).join ‘,’ - Rob ---
**Author:** ![kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kvetch)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163/3 "2009-12-13T23:39:25Z")
On Dec 13, 2:34 pm, Kvetch K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I am reading in a file that is basically a csv file but the delimiter is > spaces. I am also using fastercsv to parse the file into an array. Check out the docs for fastercsv - [http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/](http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/) - it looks like the FasterCSV class has default values for separator and quote characters. You should be able to change those to ’ ’ & ‘^’, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kvetch)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163/4 "2009-12-13T23:49:25Z")
yermej wrote: > On Dec 13, 2:34�pm, Kvetch K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > I am reading in a file that is basically a csv file but the delimiter is > > spaces. �I am also using fastercsv to parse the file into an array. > > Check out the docs for fastercsv - [http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/](http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/) - > it looks like the FasterCSV class has default values for separator and > quote characters. You should be able to change those to ’ ’ & ‘^’, > respectively. Exactly. Like this: ar=FasterCSV.read( path\_to\_file,{ :col\_sep =\> " ", :quote\_char =\>‘^’ }) hth, Siep ---
**Author:** ![kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kvetch)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163/5 "2009-12-14T04:03:34Z")
yermej wrote: > On Dec 13, 2:34�pm, Kvetch K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > I am reading in a file that is basically a csv file but the delimiter is > > spaces. �I am also using fastercsv to parse the file into an array. > > Check out the docs for fastercsv - [http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/](http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/) - > it looks like the FasterCSV class has default values for separator and > quote characters. You should be able to change those to ’ ’ & ‘^’, > respectively. Thanks yermej. I wasn’t using the fastercsv separator because I was performing some actions on the data before I read it in with fastercsv. In the end it probably doesn’t matter but thank you for your help. ---
**Author:** ![kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kvetch)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163/6 "2009-12-14T04:44:42Z")
Siep K. wrote: > yermej wrote: > > > On Dec 13, 2:34�pm, Kvetch K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > > I am reading in a file that is basically a csv file but the delimiter is > > > spaces. �I am also using fastercsv to parse the file into an array. > > > > Check out the docs for fastercsv - [http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/](http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/) - > > it looks like the FasterCSV class has default values for separator and > > quote characters. You should be able to change those to ’ ’ & ‘^’, > > respectively. > > Exactly. Like this: > > ar=FasterCSV.read( path\_to\_file,{ :col\_sep =\> " ", :quote\_char =\>‘^’ }) > > hth, > > Siep Thanks Siep. I got it to work nicely. I appreciate you and Yernej’s help ---
**Author:** ![kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kvetch)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163/7 "2009-12-14T04:45:23Z")
yermej wrote: > On Dec 13, 2:34�pm, Kvetch K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > I am reading in a file that is basically a csv file but the delimiter is > > spaces. �I am also using fastercsv to parse the file into an array. > > Check out the docs for fastercsv - [http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/](http://fastercsv.rubyforge.org/) - > it looks like the FasterCSV class has default values for separator and > quote characters. You should be able to change those to ’ ’ & ‘^’, > respectively. Thanks Yermej. I got the quote characters to solve my problem. Appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@kvetch](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kvetch)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 10:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gsub-help/180163/8 "2009-12-14T10:21:40Z")
2009/12/13 Siep K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > Exactly. Like this: > > ar=FasterCSV.read( path\_to\_file,{ :col\_sep =\> " ", :quote\_char =\>‘^’ }) You can omit brackets to make it look a little better: ar = FasterCSV.read( path\_to\_file, :col\_sep =\> " ", :quote\_char =\>‘^’ ) or, maybe a bit more efficient because you read line by line: CSV.foreach(path\_to\_file, :col\_sep =\> " ") do |row| … end Note, in 1.9.\* FasterCSV has replaced CSV which is why you can use CSV there. Kind regards robert