I am trying to find the first character of a string inside an array. I would like to do something like this:
string = ["A", "B", 1234, 54321]
string[3].chars.first # => "5"
Doing "string".chars.first # => "s" only works for a string input.
2 Answers
You could change all of the elements of the array to strings then do what you were originally doing.
string = ["A", "B", 1234, 54321]
string.map { |x| x.to_s }[3].chars.first
=> "5"
4 Comments
Linus Oleander
Or just
string.[3].to_s.chars.first?
Cary Swoveland
Better to just convert the element of interest to a string.
Gagan Gami
@Oleander : there is syntax issue in your comment. unwanted
. after string : string[3].to_s.chars.first I can't edit your comment so just point you
Charles
Or:
string[x].to_s[0] You can skip String#chars and Array#first because strings are really just arrays under the hood so you can treat them as such. Access whatever element of the parent array, ensure that you convert it to a string, and then call the first element with [0].Why are you convert all elements to string when you are interested to get first character of 3rd element of string array.
> string[3].to_s[0]
#=> "5"
OR
> string[3].to_s.chars.first
#=> "5"
1 Comment
Charles
IMO this is the better answer.
arr = ["A","B",1234,54321]; arr[3].to_s[0] => "5".["A","B",1234,54321]is an array, sostris not a good choice for a variable name. Indices begin at zero, so the last element ofarris at index3. You need to first convertarr[3]to a string, in case (as here) it is not a string. Hencearr[3].to_s[0]. If it were at index1. `arr[1].to_s[0] #=> "B".