# String#tr\_s **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [January 4, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-tr-s/125062 "2008-01-04T22:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e47774/32.png) [@nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nefigah)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-tr-s/125062/1 "2008-01-04T22:44:53Z")
This seems to be a pretty good example of a “built-in” function that I can’t really see a practical use for… why does it need to be standard? Why is it named so cryptically? When would you ever want to use it? ---
**Author:** ![nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e47774/32.png) [@nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nefigah)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-tr-s/125062/2 "2008-01-04T22:54:51Z")
On Jan 4, 2008 10:44 PM, Jordan C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ## This seems to be a pretty good example of a “built-in” function that I can’t really see a practical use for… why does it need to be standard? Why is it named so cryptically? When would you ever want to use it? > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). I suppose you mean to\_s. Well this is a case of second sight ;). Look at this code x.to\_s # quite impressive, right? 😉 and now look at this code String === x ? x : x.to\_s what do you prefer? HTH Robert – [http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/](http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/) * * * Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. Ludwig Wittgenstein ---
**Author:** ![nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e47774/32.png) [@nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nefigah)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 11:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-tr-s/125062/3 "2008-01-04T23:07:43Z")
On Friday 04 January 2008 22:44:48 Jordan C. wrote: > This seems to be a pretty good example of a “built-in” function that I > can’t really see a practical use for… why does it need to be standard? > Why is it named so cryptically? When would you ever want to use it? It’s named after the unix program ‘tr’ with parameter ‘-s’ as in squeeze. Jan ---
**Author:** ![nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e47774/32.png) [@nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nefigah)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-tr-s/125062/4 "2008-01-04T23:51:30Z")
Jan D. wrote: > It’s named after the unix program ‘tr’ with parameter ‘-s’ as in > squeeze. > > Jan That makes more sense, thank you. I’m still not sure if it’s justified, in my head; but I guess that may be because of my C# background, where it’s encouraged to err on the side of too verbose as opposed to too cryptic. Unfortunately I still don’t see a practical use for the thing though. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e47774/32.png) [@nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nefigah)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-tr-s/125062/5 "2008-01-04T23:12:58Z")
Robert D. wrote: > I suppose you mean to\_s. No, he doesn’t. str.tr\_s(from\_str, to\_str) =\> new\_str Processes a copy of _str_ as described under +String#tr+, then removes duplicate characters in regions that were affected by the translation. “hello”.tr\_s(‘l’, ‘r’) #=\> “hero” “hello”.tr\_s(‘el’, '_’) #=\> "h_o" “hello”.tr\_s(‘el’, ‘hx’) #=\> “hhxo” ---
**Author:** ![nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e47774/32.png) [@nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nefigah)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-tr-s/125062/6 "2008-01-05T00:29:07Z")
On Jan 4, 2008 11:12 PM, Sebastian H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Robert D. wrote: > > > I suppose you mean to\_s. > > No, he doesn’t. > Stupid me, I thought that was simply #tr, my bad. > R. ---
**Author:** ![nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e47774/32.png) [@nefigah](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nefigah)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-tr-s/125062/7 "2008-01-05T00:41:59Z")
On Jan 4, 2008, at 5:51 PM, J. Cooper wrote: > Unfortunately I still don’t see a practical use for the thing though. # Remove blank lines from standard input ruby -e ‘puts ARGF.read.tr\_s("\n", “\n”)’ # convert the standard input into a list of words, one per line: ruby -e ‘puts ARGF.read.tr\_s("^A-Za-z", “\n”)’ Gary W.