Stripping characters off a string

[Chris Causer]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Hi everyone,


I know this is an easy question, but I want to know the best way to do this
(i.e. the most Rubyesque).

How do I strip the last four characters off a string of undetermined length?
I'm sure it is a one liner and doesn't require regexp. I currently have:

irb(main):010:0> a='80/tcp'
=> "80/tcp"
irb(main):011:0> a[0,a.length-4]
=> "80"

irb(main):010:0> b='5666/tcp'
=> "5666/tcp"
irb(main):011:0> b[0,a.length-4]
=> "5666"

Which is two lines, but I'm hoping you smart guys can help me out I'm
guessing "chop" would work, but I'm not sure if that's the most elegant
solution

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Hugh Sasse]

Hi everyone,


I know this is an easy question, but I want to know the best way to do this
(i.e. the most Rubyesque).

How do I strip the last four characters off a string of undetermined length?
I'm sure it is a one liner and doesn't require regexp. I currently have:

irb(main):010:0> a='80/tcp'
=> "80/tcp"
irb(main):011:0> a[0,a.length-4]
=> "80"

How does:

irb(main):001:0> str = "80/tcp"
=> "80/tcp"
irb(main):002:0> str[0...-4]
=> "80"
irb(main):003:0>

look?
Hugh

 

[Evgeniy Dolzhenko]

Isn't it like
a = a[0..-5]
is what you are looking for?

 

[Chris Causer]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Isn't it like
a = a[0..-5]
is what you are looking for?

Brilliant. Thanks Evgeniy, thanks Hugh.

 

[Marc Heiler]

your_string = "abcdef" # => "abcdef"
your_string[-4,4] = '' # => ""
your_string # => "ab"

 

[Chris Causer]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

your_string = "abcdef" # => "abcdef"
your_string[-4,4] = '' # => ""
your_string # => "ab"

Does that really work Marc? I always thought that

'string'[a,b]

was to take a substring beginning at a of length b. In your case, you'd just
get the last 4 characters 'cdef'.

 

[Sebastian Hungerecker]

your_string =3D "abcdef" # =3D> "abcdef"
your_string[-4,4] =3D '' # =3D> ""
your_string =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0# =3D> "ab"

Does that really work

Yes, it does. If you copy and paste that code into irb, you'll see the exac=
t=20
output you see above (minus the # plus newlines plus the irb prompt)

I always thought that=20

=A0'string'[a,b]

was to take a substring beginning at a of length b.

That's right.

In your case, you'd=20
just get the last 4 characters 'cdef'.

Leaving the characters "ab", which is exactly what he showed in the code=20
above.

=2D-=20
Jabber: (e-mail address removed)
ICQ: 205544826

 

[Chris Causer]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

your_string = "abcdef" # => "abcdef"
your_string[-4,4] = '' # => ""
your_string # => "ab"

Does that really work

Yes, it does. If you copy and paste that code into irb, you'll see the
exact
output you see above (minus the # plus newlines plus the irb prompt)
[/QUOTE]

Ah, now I see. I missed the ='' on the second line.

Thanks Marc and Sebastian, but the range method is particularly alluring