Create two-dimensional arrays and access sub-arrays in Ruby

Question

I wonder if there\'s a possibility to create a two dimensional array and to quickly access any horizontal or vertical sub array in it?

I believe we can access a hor

Answer 1

Here's a 3D array case

class Array3D
   def initialize(d1,d2,d3)
    @data = Array.new(d1) { Array.new(d2) { Array.new(d3) } }
   end

  def [](x, y, z)
    @data[x][y][z]
  end

  def []=(x, y, z, value)
    @data[x][y][z] = value
  end
end

You can access subsections of each array just like any other Ruby array. @data[0..2][3..5][8..10] = 0 etc

Answer 2

x.transpose[6][3..8] or x[3..8].map {|r| r [6]} would give what you want.

Example:

a = [ [1,  2,  3,  4,  5],
      [6,  7,  8,  9,  10],
      [11, 12, 13, 14, 15],
      [21, 22, 23, 24, 25]
    ]

#a[1..2][2]  -> [8,13]
puts a.transpose[2][1..2].inspect   # [8,13]
puts a[1..2].map {|r| r[2]}.inspect  # [8,13]

Answer 3

Here is an easy way to create a "2D" array.

2.1.1 :004 > m=Array.new(3,Array.new(3,true))

=> [[true, true, true], [true, true, true], [true, true, true]]

Answer 4

Here is the simple version

 #one
 a = [[0]*10]*10

 #two
row, col = 10, 10
a = [[0]*row]*col

Answer 5

There are some problems with 2 dimensional Arrays the way you implement them.

a= [[1,2],[3,4]]
a[0][2]= 5 # works
a[2][0]= 6 # error

Hash as Array

I prefer to use Hashes for multi dimensional Arrays

a= Hash.new
a[[1,2]]= 23
a[[5,6]]= 42

This has the advantage, that you don't have to manually create columns or rows. Inserting into hashes is almost O(1), so there is no drawback here, as long as your Hash does not become too big.

You can even set a default value for all not specified elements

a= Hash.new(0)

So now about how to get subarrays

(3..5).to_a.product([2]).collect { |index| a[index] }
[2].product((3..5).to_a).collect { |index| a[index] }

(a..b).to_a runs in O(n). Retrieving an element from an Hash is almost O(1), so the collect runs in almost O(n). There is no way to make it faster than O(n), as copying n elements always is O(n).

Hashes can have problems when they are getting too big. So I would think twice about implementing a multidimensional Array like this, if I knew my amount of data is getting big.

Answer 6

rows, cols = x,y  # your values
grid = Array.new(rows) { Array.new(cols) }

As for accessing elements, this article is pretty good for step by step way to encapsulate an array in the way you want:

How to ruby array