# Re: splitting string to hash

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-splitting-string-to-hash/67100>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [August 31, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-splitting-string-to-hash/67100 "2006-08-31T16:56:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/BergerS_Daniel)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-splitting-string-to-hash/67100/1 "2006-08-31T16:56:13Z")

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> s2- “[1] Hello [2] bye [2:1] continue [2] more”  
> Should that be “[2:2] more” ?

> I want to convert them to hashes like  
> h1- {1 =\> “Hello”, 2 =\> “bye”}

arr = s1.split(/\s\*?[(._?)]\s_/)  
arr.delete("")

h1 = Hash[\*arr]

I’m not actually sure why I get an empty string from the Array#split  
call. If someone can figure that out, you can get rid of the  
Array#delete call.

Regards,

Dan

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**Author:** ![BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/BergerS_Daniel)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-splitting-string-to-hash/67100/2 "2006-08-31T17:14:38Z")

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No, that was actually correct, the second one is [2] not [2:2]. The key  
would need to be 2:2 though otherwise it could possibly override another  
key.  
Thanks for the other one!

Berger, Daniel wrote:

> > s2- “[1] Hello [2] bye [2:1] continue [2] more”  
> > Should that be “[2:2] more” ?
> 
> > I want to convert them to hashes like  
> > h1- {1 =\> “Hello”, 2 =\> “bye”}
> 
> arr = s1.split(/\s\*?[(._?)]\s_/)  
> arr.delete("")
> 
> h1 = Hash[\*arr]
> 
> I’m not actually sure why I get an empty string from the Array#split  
> call. If someone can figure that out, you can get rid of the  
> Array#delete call.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Dan

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/BergerS_Daniel)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-splitting-string-to-hash/67100/3 "2006-09-06T16:58:15Z")

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On 8/31/06, Berger, Daniel [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> > s2- “[1] Hello [2] bye [2:1] continue [2] more”
> 
> I’m not actually sure why I get an empty string from the Array#split  
> call. If someone can figure that out, you can get rid of the  
> Array#delete call.

If you’re capturing a group in your split pattern, and your pattern  
matches the beginning of the string, you’ll get the leading null field  
in your array. By default, a trailing null field is suppressed; you  
can get at it by setting the optional limit param to -1.

irb(main):001:0\> “1234”.split(/(\d)/)  
=\> [“”, “1”, “”, “2”, “”, “3”, “”, “4”]  
irb(main):002:0\> “1234”.split(/(\d)/, -1)  
=\> [“”, “1”, “”, “2”, “”, “3”, “”, “4”, “”]

-Alex