How convert string in Ruby

Question

Lets say we have the string '\342\200\231' (same as "\\342\\200\\231"). What is a quick way to convert this string to "\342\200\231" (same as ’ Unicode character)?

So, you want to convert any leading and trailing single-quotes to double-quotes? Or all single-quotes to double-quotes? — Michael Petrotta
– Michael Petrotta, Commented Oct 12, 2011 at 15:48
Is the ' part of the actual string? Or are you trying to convert a single-quoted string into a double-quoted string (they're both the same thing, aside from double-quoted strings allowing more things like interpolation)? — wkl
– wkl, Commented Oct 12, 2011 at 15:49
No, quote is not a part of string. If you paste both strings into irb you can make idea what I need. — taro
– taro, Commented Oct 12, 2011 at 15:53
Then state more clearly what kind of transformation you want to perform on the string. — Michael Petrotta
– Michael Petrotta, Commented Oct 12, 2011 at 15:55
You are asking how to turn a 12-character string into a 3-character string, right? If so, great question! — Ray Toal
– Ray Toal, Commented Oct 12, 2011 at 15:55

michael_wu · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-12 16:03:20Z

3

Proposal:

s.gsub(/\\(\d{3})/) { $1.oct.chr }

It depends on what assumptions you can make about your input.

answered Oct 12, 2011 at 16:03

michael_wu

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taro Over a year ago

Thanks, this is safer than eval solution.

Ray Toal · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-12 16:08:13Z

1

What you appear to be asking is how to change a 12-character string into a three-character string.

'\342\200\231'

is 12 characters long.

"\342\200\231"

is three characters long; actually three bytes long, but in Ruby 1.8 it is about the same since strings are sequences of bytes anyway.

Here is an EVIL answer for you (you did say quick), which takes advantage of eval to do your "parsing":

irb(main):017:0> s = '\342\200\231'
=> "\\342\\200\\231"
irb(main):018:0> t = eval('"' + s + '"')
=> "\342\200\231"
irb(main):019:0> s.length
=> 12
irb(main):020:0> t.length
=> 3

Sorry for the eval!

I should probably give a more helpful answer... EDIT: Someone else just did.

edited Oct 12, 2011 at 16:08

answered Oct 12, 2011 at 15:52

Ray Toal

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1 Comment

taro Over a year ago

Thanks! Don't like eval, but this is nice and short solution.

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