Array Default Values

[Drew Olson]

I'd like to have my array behave like this: If I add an item to a[5],
a[0..5] will be equal to " " rather than nil. I tried to following:

irb(main):001:0> a=[" "]
=> [" "]
irb(main):002:0> a[5] = "test"
=> "test"
irb(main):003:0> a.inspect
=> "[\" \", nil, nil, nil, nil, \"test\"]"

Is there any way to have those nils default to " "?

Thanks,
Drew

 

[David Goodlad]

I'd like to have my array behave like this: If I add an item to a[5],
a[0..5] will be equal to " " rather than nil. I tried to following:

irb(main):001:0> a=[" "]
=> [" "]
irb(main):002:0> a[5] = "test"
=> "test"
irb(main):003:0> a.inspect
=> "[\" \", nil, nil, nil, nil, \"test\"]"

Is there any way to have those nils default to " "?

Array.new should do what you want:

a = Array.new(5, " ") # => [" ", " ", " ", " ", " "]

Dave

 

[Drew Olson]

It's a bit more code, but also more flexible, filling up everything up
to
and not including 5.

I should have specified the follow:

1. I'm golfing, so short length would be preferred.
2. I will not know the length of the array beforehand.

Thanks again

-Drew