%w{tomato cheese ham pineapple}.join(', ', ' and ')

Benjohn_B · April 1, 2006, 7:20pm

=> ‘tomato, cheese, ham and pineapple’

Is something I’d like to be able to do, and I almost thought it’s be
part of the standard. Is there already a standard way of getting that
(facets, perhaps?)? Any chance it’ll make it in to the standard
Enumerable?

Cheers,
Benj

Benjohn_B · April 1, 2006, 7:29pm

On Apr 1, 2006, at 11:20 AM, Benjohn B. wrote:

=> ‘tomato, cheese, ham and pineapple’

Is something I’d like to be able to do, and I almost thought it’s
be part of the standard. Is there already a standard way of getting
that (facets, perhaps?)? Any chance it’ll make it in to the
standard Enumerable?

list = %w{tomato cheese ham pineapple}
=> [“tomato”, “cheese”, “ham”, “pineapple”]

[list[0…-2].join(", “), list[-1]].join(”, and ")
=> “tomato, cheese, ham, and pineapple”

Hope that helps.

James Edward G. II

Benjohn_B · April 1, 2006, 10:33pm

On 4/1/06, Benjohn B. [email protected] wrote:

=> ‘tomato, cheese, ham and pineapple’

Is something I’d like to be able to do, and I almost thought it’s be
part of the standard. Is there already a standard way of getting that
(facets, perhaps?)? Any chance it’ll make it in to the standard
Enumerable?

another alternative:

%w{tomato cheese ham pineapple}.join(‘, ‘).sub(/, (\S+)$/,’ and \1’)

(I’m not Mr. Grammar, but I usually remove the last comma before the
“and”)

Cameron

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 2:29am

DÅ?a Sobota 01 AprÃl 2006 19:20 Benjohn B. napÃsal:

=> ‘tomato, cheese, ham and pineapple’

Is something I’d like to be able to do, and I almost thought it’s be
part of the standard. Is there already a standard way of getting that
(facets, perhaps?)? Any chance it’ll make it in to the standard
Enumerable?

Cheers,
Benj

A little late, but in spirit of when the thread started: I’d get the
pizza
delivered

David V.

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 2:32am

On 1 Apr 2006, at 18:27, James Edward G. II wrote:

=> [“tomato”, “cheese”, “ham”, “pineapple”]

[list[0…-2].join(", “), list[-1]].join(”, and ")
=> “tomato, cheese, ham, and pineapple”

Hope that helps.

James Edward G. II

! Thanks!

Argh, and it almost works in the edge cases, except for when there’s
0 or 1 item in the list.

a = [1]
=> [1]
irb(main):030:0> [a[0…-2].join(’, ‘), a[-1]].join(’ and ‘)
=> " and 1"
irb(main):031:0> a = []
=> []
irb(main):032:0> [a[0…-2].join(’, ‘), a[-1]].join(’ and ')
=> " and "

When I was looking at this earlier, I found that…

def a_function(arg1, arg2 = arg1)
puts arg1, arg2
end

…worked as I’d expect, and was surprised that join didn’t take an
optional second argument to be the separator between the last two items.

Cheers,
Benj

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 12:38am

On 1-Apr-06, at 3:32 PM, Cameron McBride wrote:

%w{tomato cheese ham pineapple}.join(‘, ‘).sub(/, (\S+)$/,’ and \1’)

(I’m not Mr. Grammar, but I usually remove the last comma before
the “and”)

The Oxford comma is useful and acceptable. If there is any ambiguity
in the list then the comma can be most useful. To lift from http://
www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-oxf1.htm:

The argument for using it is that it reduces the risk of ambiguity.
For example, if you were to write ?He studied Roman history,
international politics and economics? it is not obvious whether
international refers only to politics or also to economics. Putting
the serial comma in removes that doubt. In practice, an alert
writer will spot the potential problem and can often write around it.

Perhaps the best argument for the serial comma is that apocryphal
book dedication: ?To my parents, Ayn Rand and God?.

Mike

–

Mike S. [email protected]
http://www.stok.ca/~mike/

The “`Stok’ disclaimers” apply.

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 2:41am

On 1 Apr 2006, at 21:32, Cameron McBride wrote:

.join(’, ‘).sub(/, (\S+)$/,’ and \1’)

Groovy - and it works for the edge cases too…

irb(main):033:0> a=[1,2,3]
=> [1, 2, 3]
irb(main):034:0> a.join(’, ‘).sub(/, (\S+)$/,’ and \1’)
=> “1, 2 and 3”
irb(main):035:0> a=[1,2]
=> [1, 2]
irb(main):036:0> a.join(’, ‘).sub(/, (\S+)$/,’ and \1’)
=> “1 and 2”
irb(main):037:0> a=[1]
=> [1]
irb(main):038:0> a.join(’, ‘).sub(/, (\S+)$/,’ and \1’)
=> “1”
irb(main):039:0> a=[]
=> []
irb(main):040:0> a.join(’, ‘).sub(/, (\S+)$/,’ and \1’)
=> “”

Thanks.

It still seems like a nice one to have in the standard, to me.

Cheers,
B

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 2:44am

On 2 Apr 2006, at 01:26, David V. wrote:

A little late, but in spirit of when the thread started: I’d get
the pizza
delivered

Good timing - I’m munchy.

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 2:44am

That’s an interesting idea. Perhaps an options hash though in case
anyone thinks of alternatives:

join( ', ', :last => ’ and ')

T.

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 2:50am

On 2 Apr 2006, at 01:40, Benjohn B. wrote:

It still seems like a nice one to have in the standard, to me.

Is there somewhere for suggestion new features? I’m sure I remember
seeing that, but I’m having trouble tracking it down.

Cheers,
Ben

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 3:24am

On Apr 1, 2006, at 7:32 PM, Benjohn B. wrote:

the standard Enumerable?
! Thanks!
irb(main):032:0> [a[0…-2].join(’, ‘), a[-1]].join(’ and ')
items.

Cheers,
Benj

This works in all the edge cases also, but its a bit verbose:
class Array
def multi_join(*args)
if args.empty?
join
elsif args.length == 1
join(args[0])
else
accum = “”
normal = args[0]
last = args[1]
index_of_second_to_last_item = length - 2
index_of_last_item = length - 1
each_with_index do |item, count|
accum << item.to_s
if count == index_of_last_item
break
elsif count == index_of_second_to_last_item
accum << last
else
accum << normal
end
end
accum
end
end
end

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 3:00am

Hi –

On Sun, 2 Apr 2006, Benjohn B. wrote:

On 2 Apr 2006, at 01:40, Benjohn B. wrote:

It still seems like a nice one to have in the standard, to me.

Is there somewhere for suggestion new features? I’m sure I remember seeing
that, but I’m having trouble tracking it down.

Once you’ve really determined that you can make a case for it, you can
prepare an RCR (Ruby Change Request) and post it to
http://www.rcrchive.net (now running on my new server; if the name
resolves to the old one, wait a day or two).

David

–
David A. Black ([email protected])
Ruby Power and Light, LLC (http://www.rubypowerandlight.com)

“Ruby for Rails” chapters now available
from Manning Early Access Program! Ruby for Rails

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 9:28am

On 2 Apr 2006, at 01:58, [email protected] wrote:

Once you’ve really determined that you can make a case for it, you can
prepare an RCR (Ruby Change Request) and post it to
http://www.rcrchive.net (now running on my new server; if the name
resolves to the old one, wait a day or two).

Thank you, I’ll do that. I was wracking my brains trying to remember
that last night, and all I could come up with to Google was feature
request.

Cheers,
Benjohn

Benjohn_B · April 2, 2006, 8:52pm

class Array
def join_sentence
case length
when 1
self[0]
when 2
“#{self[0]} and #{self[1]}”
else
“#{self[0…-1].join(’, ')} and #{self[-1]}”
end
end
end

Benjohn_B · April 3, 2006, 2:04pm

One more tweak for the empty array if “” makes sense.

class Array
def join_sentence
case length
when 0: “”
when 1: self[0]
else [self[0…-2].join(", “), self[-1]].join(” and ")
end
end
end