Find value in an array

Question

In Ruby, how can I find a value in an array?

Answer 1

Like this?

a = [ "a", "b", "c", "d", "e" ]
a[2] +  a[0] + a[1]    #=> "cab"
a[6]                   #=> nil
a[1, 2]                #=> [ "b", "c" ]
a[1..3]                #=> [ "b", "c", "d" ]
a[4..7]                #=> [ "e" ]
a[6..10]               #=> nil
a[-3, 3]               #=> [ "c", "d", "e" ]
# special cases
a[5]                   #=> nil
a[5, 1]                #=> []
a[5..10]               #=> []

or like this?

a = [ "a", "b", "c" ]
a.index("b")   #=> 1
a.index("z")   #=> nil

See the manual.

Answer 2

I know this question has already been answered, but I came here looking for a way to filter elements in an Array based on some criteria. So here is my solution example: using select, I find all constants in Class that start with "RUBY_"

Class.constants.select {|c| c.to_s =~ /^RUBY_/ }

UPDATE: In the meantime I have discovered that Array#grep works much better. For the above example,

Class.constants.grep /^RUBY_/

did the trick.

Answer 3

Using Array#select will give you an array of elements that meet the criteria. But if you're looking for a way of getting the element out of the array that meets your criteria, Enumerable#detect would be a better way to go:

array = [1,2,3]
found = array.select {|e| e == 3} #=> [3]
found = array.detect {|e| e == 3} #=> 3

Otherwise you'd have to do something awkward like:

found = array.select {|e| e == 3}.first

Answer 4

you can use Array.select or Array.index to do that.

Answer 5

I'm guessing that you're trying to find if a certain value exists inside the array, and if that's the case, you can use Array#include?(value):

a = [1,2,3,4,5]
a.include?(3)   # => true
a.include?(9)   # => false

If you mean something else, check the Ruby Array API

Answer 6

Thanks for replies.

I did like this:

puts 'find' if array.include?(value)