# Re: Numbers Can Be Words (#133) **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [August 5, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-numbers-can-be-words-133/111309 "2007-08-05T17:13:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jameskelly](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@jameskelly](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jameskelly)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-numbers-can-be-words-133/111309/1 "2007-08-05T17:13:12Z")
I found this Quiz to be extremely easy. I wrote this solution in a minute or two: dict = File.open(“wordlist.txt”){|f| f.readlines.reject {|word| (‘A’…‘Z’) === word[0,1]}} base = ARGV[0].to\_i puts dict.select{|word| word.unpack(“C\*”).select{|char| char \> ?a+base-11}.empty?} ----- Original Message ---- From: Ruby Q. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) To: ruby-talk ML [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Sent: Friday, August 3, 2007 8:01:18 AM Subject: [QUIZ] Numbers Can Be Words (#133) The three rules of Ruby Q.: 1. Please do not post any solutions or spoiler discussion for this quiz until 48 hours have passed from the time on this message. 2. Support Ruby Q. by submitting ideas as often as you can: [http://www.rubyquiz.com/](http://www.rubyquiz.com/) 1. Enjoy! Suggestion: A [QUIZ] in the subject of emails about the problem helps everyone on Ruby T. follow the discussion. Please reply to the original quiz message, if you can. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= by Morton G. When working with hexadecimal numbers it is likely that you’ve noticed some hex numbers are also words. For example, ‘bad’ and ‘face’ are both English words and valid hex numbers (2989 and 64206, respectively, in decimal). I got to thinking that it would be interesting to find out how many and which hex numbers were also valid English words. Of course, almost immediately I started to think of generalizations. What about other bases? What about languages other than English? Your mission is to pick a word list in some language (it will have be one that uses roman letters) and write Ruby code to filter the list to extract all the words which are valid numbers in a given base. For many bases this isn’t an interesting task–for bases 2-10, the filter comes up empty; for bases 11-13, the filter output is uninteresting (IMO); for bases approaching 36, the filter passes almost everything (also uninteresting IMO). However, for bases in the range from 14 to about 22, the results can be interesting and even surprising, especially if one constrains the filter to accept only words of some length. I used `/usr/share/dict/words` for my word list. Participants who don’t have that list on their system or want a different one can go to Kevin’s Word List Page ([http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/](http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/)) as a source of other word lists. Some points you might want to consider: Do you want to omit short words like ‘a’ and ‘ad’? (I made word length a parameter). Do you want to allow capitalized words (I prohibited them)? Do you want to restrict the bases allowed (I didn’t)? \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_Ready for the edge of your seat? Check out tonight’s top picks on Yahoo! TV. > **[Yahoo Entertainment](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tv/)** > > Yahoo Entertainment is your source for the latest TV, movies, music, and celebrity news, including interviews, trailers, photos, and first looks. ---
**Author:** ![jameskelly](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@jameskelly](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jameskelly)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-numbers-can-be-words-133/111309/2 "2007-08-05T18:12:20Z")
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 James K. wrote: > I found this Quiz to be extremely easy. I wrote this solution in a > minute or two: > > dict = File.open(“wordlist.txt”){|f| f.readlines.reject {|word| > (‘A’…‘Z’) === word[0,1]}} > > base = ARGV[0].to\_i > > puts dict.select{|word| word.unpack(“C\*”).select{|char| > char \> ?a+base-11}.empty?} Indeed. Here’s my two-liner. ARGV[0] is the base to be used, ARGV[1] is the file to be processed. p = /^[#{“0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz”[0…ARGV[0].to\_i]}]+$/i puts File.open(ARGV[1]).readlines.reject!{|l| l !~ p} I do not reject words that contain digits. That would reject valid Internet slang like “l8er” or “gn8”, leetspeak like “1337” or “H4X0R”, and acronyms like I18N or L10N. Josef ‘Jupp’ Schugt * * * Blog available at [http://www.mynetcologne.de/~nc-schugtjo/blog/](http://www.mynetcologne.de/~nc-schugtjo/blog/) PGP key with id 6CC6574F available at [http://wwwkeys.de.pgp.net/](http://wwwkeys.de.pgp.net/) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Fedora - [http://enigmail.mozdev.org](http://enigmail.mozdev.org) iD8DBQFGtfavrhv7B2zGV08RAg8MAJ0a592lTGVyH636SdZzcK8qDP3AogCgnIBZ +CcWYwTWoMIP7XmSwqYG3OE= =rKWG -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----