Ruby string split unexpected result

Question

With this code:

"\t\ttest\t\t\t".split(/\t/)

I expect the following result:

 => ["", "", "test", "", "", ""]

But the result is:

=> ["", "", "test"]

Why?

Michael Berkowski · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-10 04:04:50Z

7

If the limit parameter is omitted, trailing null fields are left off the returned array. If it is negative, they are returned:

# Supply -1 as the limit parameter
"\t\ttest\t\t\t".split(/\t/, -1)
=> ["", "", "test", "", "", ""]

answered Feb 10, 2012 at 3:59

Michael Berkowski

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1 Comment

Cool! thank you! I found that the official document does mention the limit, but I don't know the "null" means the empty string.