# Struggling with array searches/queries **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [December 16, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/struggling-with-array-searches-queries/155724 "2008-12-16T00:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sclarke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@sclarke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sclarke)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/struggling-with-array-searches-queries/155724/1 "2008-12-16T00:39:10Z")
I am reading delimited lines of data stored in array eg 123 name address date product I perform an array.each and then run an if statement based on the ID (123). What I wish to do now is say if you find ID 123 read the entries in name and count unique names eg the entries bob bob mike sue Would report 2 bob 1 mike 1 sue I was thinking something like this if id==123 namelist.push name counts = Hash.new(0) if namelist.find {|n| (counts[n]) +=1} puts counts + name Obviously the coding is not correct, but can anyone comment or expand further on this? Many thanks ---
**Author:** ![sclarke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@sclarke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sclarke)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/struggling-with-array-searches-queries/155724/2 "2008-12-16T02:37:04Z")
I’d just map the names in a hash. Something like name\_hash = {} then in the loop/if statements: name\_hash[name] ||= 0 name\_hash[name] +=1 when you want to print it out name\_hash.each\_pair {|name,count| puts “#{key} occurs #{count} times”} I don’t really understand the logic of your code. I’m not sure what the find method does, but it looks like your code would increment the count for everyname encountered so far if the ID is 123. I think you’re experiencing a problem with your algorithm, not your code. Your algorithm doesn’t seem to make sense to me. On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 3:31 PM, Stuart C. ---
**Author:** ![sclarke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@sclarke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sclarke)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/struggling-with-array-searches-queries/155724/3 "2008-12-16T03:29:08Z")
On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 5:31 PM, Stuart C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > eg the entries bob bob mike sue > puts counts + name > > Obviously the coding is not correct, but can anyone comment or expand > further on this? An approach… a = %w(bob bob mike sue) p a.inject(Hash.new(0)) {|h, n| h[n] += 1; h} =\> {“mike”=\>1, “sue”=\>1, “bob”=\>2} …or (in 1.8.7) a different one… a = %w(bob bob mike sue) p a.uniq.inject({}) {|h, i| h[i] = a.count(i); h} Todd