Compare Array Values?

ruby-talk
1

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

Example
equal
[1,2,3,4,"abc"] should equal [2,3,1,"abc",4] and all the other different
orders that are possible

This should not be equal
[1,2,3] and [1,1,2,3]
[1,2,3,nil] and [nil, nil, nil, 1,2,1,3,2]

At first I thought of
(( array1 | array2 ) - array1).size == 0

but this does not take into account duplicate values and the should not
equals do equal :(. In fact I have not been able work out how to use any of
the standard array, or Enumerable methods in such a way I can check if two
arrays contain the same values as well as taking into account duplicates.

Any pointers?

Cheers
Daniel

2

I thought I was going to get to contribute, but then I got stuck. I
installed the latest ruby, wrote a quick program that I thought would do it,
and it didn't. So I expanded on the program, trying to figure out what was
going on, and now it's 20 lines long(mostly puts) and I *still* don't get
something (Beware - the single most basic code ever follows - it was
originally much nicer but then I got to trying to debug)

a = Array.new
a = %w{test test2 test3}
puts a
aSize = a.size
b = Array.new
b = %w{test3 nil test2 test}
bSize = b.size
puts 'size of b:' + bSize.to_s
puts b
puts 'size of a:' + aSize.to_s
if aSize = bSize
  aSorted= a.sort!
  bSorted= b.sort!
  if aSorted.eql?(bSorted)
    puts 'ssdd'
  else
    puts 'same size, different values'
  end
else
  puts 'not the same size'
end

ruby array.rb

test
test2
test3
size of b:4
test3
nil
test2
test
size of a:3
same size, different values

What's wrong with if aSize = bSize? That seems the most intuitive way to do
it to me... I mean, it's an integer... why is it going inside the loop at
all?

···

On 11/22/06, Daniel N <has.sox@gmail.com> wrote:

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

Example
equal
[1,2,3,4,"abc"] should equal [2,3,1,"abc",4] and all the other different
orders that are possible

This should not be equal
[1,2,3] and [1,1,2,3]
[1,2,3,nil] and [nil, nil, nil, 1,2,1,3,2]

At first I thought of
(( array1 | array2 ) - array1).size == 0

but this does not take into account duplicate values and the should not
equals do equal :(. In fact I have not been able work out how to use any
of
the standard array, or Enumerable methods in such a way I can check if two
arrays contain the same values as well as taking into account duplicates.

Any pointers?

Cheers
Daniel

3

def are_these_arrays_equal?(a1, a2)
     return false if a1.size != a2.size
     a2 = a2.dup # a2 will be modified, so let's duplicate it
     for i1 in a1
       return false unless a2.include? i1
       # need to delete just the *first* occurrence of i1 in a2
       # (Array#delete deletes them all)
       found = false
       a2.delete_if {|i2| found = !found && i1 == i2 }
     end
     # a2 is now empty, since its size was equal to a1 size
     return true
   end

This should work with multiple occurrences of the same object, different objects (so different object_id) that seem to be equal (by comparing them with ==), nil values (#find() is a bit tricky), objects that do not respond to <=>.
Did I miss any case?

Anyway I think it's a bit slow (delete_if goes on even if we deleted the only one we wanted to, moreover it duplicates a whole array), but who cares? We're using ruby, we probably aren't looking for speed anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

···

On 23/nov/06, at 02:04, Daniel N wrote:

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

--
Gabriele Marrone

4

In general, if the arrays can contain arbitrary elements, this is a difficult problem. If the elements themselves can be arrays, you will want to start by duplicating the two arrays and flattening the duplicates. If the duplicates are not the same size, you're done. If they are the same size, you will need to define a notion of canonical order (basically a sort order that is applicable to all elements) and transform both arrays into canonical order -- this can be the hard part. Then you can make an element by element comparison.

Regards, Morton

···

On Nov 22, 2006, at 8:04 PM, Daniel N wrote:

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

Example
equal
[1,2,3,4,"abc"] should equal [2,3,1,"abc",4] and all the other different
orders that are possible

This should not be equal
[1,2,3] and [1,1,2,3]
[1,2,3,nil] and [nil, nil, nil, 1,2,1,3,2]

5

Well, I'm new to Ruby, but it was an interesting question so I gave it
a stab. My first idea was

a.sort == b.sort

which works if all the elements of an array of of the same class. But
if you mix objects of different class (like you example with Fixnums
and a String), sort() craps out on it. You can pass a block to sort,
but I couldn't think of a good way to use that to our advantage. So I
resorted to more of a brute force method:

def same_elems?(array1, array2)
  return false unless array1.length == array2.length

  tmp = array2.clone
  array1.each do |item|
    if i = tmp.index(item) then tmp.delete_at(i) end
  end
  return tmp.empty?
end

As far as I can tell it meets all of your criteria.

Darshan

Daniel N wrote:

···

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

Example
equal
[1,2,3,4,"abc"] should equal [2,3,1,"abc",4] and all the other different
orders that are possible

This should not be equal
[1,2,3] and [1,1,2,3]
[1,2,3,nil] and [nil, nil, nil, 1,2,1,3,2]

At first I thought of
(( array1 | array2 ) - array1).size == 0

but this does not take into account duplicate values and the should not
equals do equal :(. In fact I have not been able work out how to use any of
the standard array, or Enumerable methods in such a way I can check if two
arrays contain the same values as well as taking into account duplicates.

Any pointers?

Cheers
Daniel

------=_Part_45042_23178773.1164243892803--

6

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

Example
equal
[1,2,3,4,"abc"] should equal [2,3,1,"abc",4] and all the other different
orders that are possible

This should not be equal
[1,2,3] and [1,1,2,3]
[1,2,3,nil] and [nil, nil, nil, 1,2,1,3,2]

At first I thought of
(( array1 | array2 ) - array1).size == 0

but this does not take into account duplicate values and the should not
equals do equal :(. In fact I have not been able work out how to use any of
the standard array, or Enumerable methods in such a way I can check if two
arrays contain the same values as well as taking into account duplicates.

Any pointers?

What's wrong with:

irb(main):002:0> require 'set'
=> true
irb(main):003:0> t1 = [1,2,3,4,"abc"]
=> [1, 2, 3, 4, "abc"]
irb(main):004:0> t2 = [2,3,1,"abc",4]
=> [2, 3, 1, "abc", 4]
irb(main):005:0> s1 = Set.new(t1)
=> #<Set: {"abc", 1, 2, 3, 4}>
irb(main):006:0> s2 = Set.new(t2)
=> #<Set: {"abc", 1, 2, 3, 4}>
irb(main):007:0> s1 == s2
=> true
irb(main):008:0> s1.subset?(s2)
=> true
irb(main):009:0> s2.subset?(s1)
=> true

···

On 11/22/06, Daniel N <has.sox@gmail.com> wrote:

Cheers
Daniel

--
Stuart Yarus

<syarus at gmail dot com>

7

The Coolest Way:

def same_elems?(array1, array2)
  return false unless array1.length == array2.length

  compare = Proc.new do |x,y|
    if (x.class == y.class)
      x <=> y
    else
      x.class.to_s <=> y.class.to_s
    end
  end

  return array1.sort(&compare) == array2.sort(&compare)
end

Ruby sure is fun. Like I said, I'm new to Ruby, so I'm still getting a
kick out of all this stuff. I'm pretty sure this works (i.e, meets all
of your criteria), and man do I think it's cool that you can do this.
Remember I said you could pass a block to sort()? Well, I just did
what I wanted (I'm not used to being ABLE to do what I want, Ruby seems
to make it way easier to just tell it to do what you want it to.)

I guess it'll work for any two arrays filled with objects of any
classes that have <=> defined. That should be most, I think. I just
tell sort() to compare with <=> if the objects to be compared are of
the same class, and if not, sort by putting the one whose class name
comes first alphabetically (converting their class names to Strings and
comparing those with <=>). So you get a sorted array with, e.g. Arrays
first, then Fixnums, then Stings, then Symbols, or whatever, but
classes in order, and in order within the classes.

It's conceptually simple, but I have no idea how it compares in speed
to the other ways. Can anyone give me a tip on a good way to
benchmark?

Darshan

8

maybe i mis-undestand, but why wouldn't you use a hashlist?

   harp:~ > cat a.rb
   def content_eq a, b
     ah = Hash.new{|h,k| h[k] = } and a.each{|x| ah << x}
     bh = Hash.new{|h,k| h[k] = } and b.each{|x| bh << x}
     ah == bh
   end

   pairs = [
     [ [1,2,3,4,"abc"], [2,3,1,"abc",4] ],
     [ [1,2,3], [1,1,2,3] ],
     [ [1,2,3,nil], [nil, nil, nil, 1,2,1,3,2] ],
   ]

   pairs.each{|a,b| puts "content_eq(#{ a.inspect }, #{ b.inspect }) #=> #{ content_eq a, b }"}

   harp:~ > ruby a.rb
   content_eq([1, 2, 3, 4, "abc"], [2, 3, 1, "abc", 4]) #=> true
   content_eq([1, 2, 3], [1, 1, 2, 3]) #=> false
   content_eq([1, 2, 3, nil], [nil, nil, nil, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2]) #=> false

??

-a

···

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006, Daniel N wrote:

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

Example
equal
[1,2,3,4,"abc"] should equal [2,3,1,"abc",4] and all the other different
orders that are possible

This should not be equal
[1,2,3] and [1,1,2,3]
[1,2,3,nil] and [nil, nil, nil, 1,2,1,3,2]

At first I thought of
(( array1 | array2 ) - array1).size == 0

but this does not take into account duplicate values and the should not
equals do equal :(. In fact I have not been able work out how to use any of
the standard array, or Enumerable methods in such a way I can check if two
arrays contain the same values as well as taking into account duplicates.

Any pointers?

--
my religion is very simple. my religion is kindness. -- the dalai lama

9

I thought I was going to get to contribute, but then I got stuck. I
installed the latest ruby, wrote a quick program that I thought would do it,
and it didn't. So I expanded on the program, trying to figure out what was
going on, and now it's 20 lines long(mostly puts) and I *still* don't get
something (Beware - the single most basic code ever follows - it was
originally much nicer but then I got to trying to debug)

[...]

if aSize = bSize

[...]

What's wrong with if aSize = bSize? That seems the most intuitive way to do
it to me... I mean, it's an integer... why is it going inside the loop at
all?

Just a typo, = instead of == :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyway, you're relying on the items to respond to <=>. Not every array should be sortable, I think.
I was thinking of another way, but I'm still working on it...

···

On 23/nov/06, at 02:48, Jason Mayer wrote:

--
Gabriele Marrone

10

I thought I was going to get to contribute, but then I got stuck. I
installed the latest ruby, wrote a quick program that I thought would do it,
and it didn't. So I expanded on the program, trying to figure out what was
going on, and now it's 20 lines long(mostly puts) and I *still* don't get
something (Beware - the single most basic code ever follows - it was
originally much nicer but then I got to trying to debug)

a = Array.new
a = %w{test test2 test3}
puts a
aSize = a.size
b = Array.new
b = %w{test3 nil test2 test}
bSize = b.size
puts 'size of b:' + bSize.to_s
puts b
puts 'size of a:' + aSize.to_s
if aSize = bSize

In Ruby = is only used for assignment. For testing use ==.

aSorted= a.sort!
bSorted= b.sort!
if aSorted.eql?(bSorted)
   puts 'ssdd'
else
   puts 'same size, different values'
end
else
puts 'not the same size'
end

ruby array.rb

test
test2
test3
size of b:4
test3
nil
test2
test
size of a:3
same size, different values

What's wrong with if aSize = bSize? That seems the most intuitive way to do
it to me... I mean, it's an integer... why is it going inside the loop at
all?

Regards, Morton

···

On Nov 22, 2006, at 8:48 PM, Jason Mayer wrote:

11

Hi --

I thought I was going to get to contribute, but then I got stuck. I
installed the latest ruby, wrote a quick program that I thought would do it,
and it didn't. So I expanded on the program, trying to figure out what was
going on, and now it's 20 lines long(mostly puts) and I *still* don't get
something (Beware - the single most basic code ever follows - it was
originally much nicer but then I got to trying to debug)

There are a few cobwebs you can clear :slight_smile:

a = Array.new
a = %w{test test2 test3}

You're using the identifier 'a' twice. The first use is discarded.
You might as well do:

   a = 1000
   a = %w{ test test2 test3 }

The second assignment clobbers the first, with respect to the
variable.

puts a
aSize = a.size
b = Array.new
b = %w{test3 nil test2 test}

Do you really want the string "nil" there, as opposed to the object nil?

bSize = b.size
puts 'size of b:' + bSize.to_s
puts b
puts 'size of a:' + aSize.to_s
if aSize = bSize

You mean:

   if aSize == bSize

aSorted= a.sort!
bSorted= b.sort!

This is OK if everything in both arrays is sortable, but they may not
be:

   [1,2,nil,3].sort # => ArgumentError

You can't compare nil to an integer, nor a string to an integer, etc.,
so an array with mixed objects like that can't sort.

Here's another way to go about it. I imagine someone will come along
with a slicker and/or more efficient implementation of the method, but
for what it's worth, here's mine:

require 'test/unit'

module EnumerableAddons

   def count(element)
     find_all {|e| e == element }.size
   end

   def equal_to(other)
     all? {|e| other.count(e) == count(e) }
   end
end

class ArrayComparisonTest < Test::Unit::TestCase

   def setup
     @a = [1,2,3,4,nil,"hi"].extend(EnumerableAddons)
     @b = [2,3,nil,4,"hi",1].extend(EnumerableAddons)
   end

   def test_same
     assert(@a.equal_to(@b))
   end

   def test_duplicate
     @a << 1
     assert(!@a.equal_to(@b))
   end

   def test_extra
     @a << 5
     assert(!@a.equal_to(@b))
   end

   def test_subset_of_same_size
     @a.pop
     @a << 1
     assert(!@a.equal_to(@b))
   end

end

There's an noteworthy lesson about testing here, by the way. My first
implementation of equal_to was:

   def equal_to(other)
   end

Interestingly, some of my tests passed -- because the method returned
nil, and I was asserting (the truth of (not the method return value)).
It's a useful reminder of the possibility of things working by
coincidence sometimes.

David

···

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006, Jason Mayer wrote:

--
                   David A. Black | dblack@wobblini.net
Author of "Ruby for Rails" [1] | Ruby/Rails training & consultancy [3]
DABlog (DAB's Weblog) [2] | Co-director, Ruby Central, Inc. [4]
[1] Ruby for Rails | [3] http://www.rubypowerandlight.com
[2] http://dablog.rubypal.com | [4] http://www.rubycentral.org

12

Hi --

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

def are_these_arrays_equal?(a1, a2)
  return false if a1.size != a2.size
  a2 = a2.dup # a2 will be modified, so let's duplicate it
  for i1 in a1
    return false unless a2.include? i1
    # need to delete just the *first* occurrence of i1 in a2
    # (Array#delete deletes them all)
    found = false
    a2.delete_if {|i2| found = !found && i1 == i2 }
  end
  # a2 is now empty, since its size was equal to a1 size
  return true
end

This should work with multiple occurrences of the same object, different objects (so different object_id) that seem to be equal (by comparing them with ==), nil values (#find() is a bit tricky), objects that do not respond to <=>.
Did I miss any case?

It passes all of my tests (see my other email).

Anyway I think it's a bit slow (delete_if goes on even if we deleted the only one we wanted to, moreover it duplicates a whole array), but who cares? We're using ruby, we probably aren't looking for speed anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

Well... we don't complain when things are faster :slight_smile: Doing a few
benchmarks it appears that yours is faster than mine. I added a
"return false if [sizes differ]", and that helped with those runs.

David

···

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006, Gabriele Marrone wrote:

On 23/nov/06, at 02:04, Daniel N wrote:

--
                   David A. Black | dblack@wobblini.net
Author of "Ruby for Rails" [1] | Ruby/Rails training & consultancy [3]
DABlog (DAB's Weblog) [2] | Co-director, Ruby Central, Inc. [4]
[1] Ruby for Rails | [3] http://www.rubypowerandlight.com
[2] http://dablog.rubypal.com | [4] http://www.rubycentral.org

13

Hi --

I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

Example
equal
[1,2,3,4,"abc"] should equal [2,3,1,"abc",4] and all the other different
orders that are possible

This should not be equal
[1,2,3] and [1,1,2,3]
[1,2,3,nil] and [nil, nil, nil, 1,2,1,3,2]

In general, if the arrays can contain arbitrary elements, this is a difficult problem. If the elements themselves can be arrays, you will want to start by duplicating the two arrays and flattening the duplicates. If the duplicates are not the same size, you're done. If they are the same size, you will need to define a notion of canonical order (basically a sort order that is applicable to all elements) and transform both arrays into canonical order -- this can be the hard part. Then you can make an element by element comparison.

I'm not sure about the flattening. If you have:

   [1,2,[3,4],5]

and

   [1,[2,3],4,5]

as I understand it, the comparison should fail, because the arrays
contain different elements, not the same elements in possibly
different order. I guess we'd need a ruling from Daniel.

David

···

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006, Morton Goldberg wrote:

On Nov 22, 2006, at 8:04 PM, Daniel N wrote:

--
                   David A. Black | dblack@wobblini.net
Author of "Ruby for Rails" [1] | Ruby/Rails training & consultancy [3]
DABlog (DAB's Weblog) [2] | Co-director, Ruby Central, Inc. [4]
[1] Ruby for Rails | [3] http://www.rubypowerandlight.com
[2] http://dablog.rubypal.com | [4] http://www.rubycentral.org

14

> I want to check to see if two arrays contain the same values.
> That is, are they the same array but not in the same order.

   def are_these_arrays_equal?(a1, a2)
     return false if a1.size != a2.size
     a2 = a2.dup # a2 will be modified, so let's duplicate it
     for i1 in a1
       return false unless a2.include? i1
       # need to delete just the *first* occurrence of i1 in a2
       # (Array#delete deletes them all)
       found = false
       a2.delete_if {|i2| found = !found && i1 == i2 }
     end
     # a2 is now empty, since its size was equal to a1 size
     return true
   end

This should work with multiple occurrences of the same object,
different objects (so different object_id) that seem to be equal (by
comparing them with ==), nil values (#find() is a bit tricky),
objects that do not respond to <=>.
Did I miss any case?

I've made a list of the cases so far that I can think of, in a response to
Davids post. The elements could be of arbitrary type.

Anyway I think it's a bit slow (delete_if goes on even if we deleted

the only one we wanted to, moreover it duplicates a whole array), but
who cares? We're using ruby, we probably aren't looking for speed
anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

The case that I want to use it for is as a test helper so speed is not
critical. I want to make sure that I don't have duplicate attributes in an
association in rails that is not a straight forward use of
validates_uniquness_of

Thanx for your help... I'll give this one a go when I get to my computer.

···

On 11/23/06, Gabriele Marrone <gabriele.marrone@gmail.com> wrote:

On 23/nov/06, at 02:04, Daniel N wrote:

15

Hi Darshan,

Thanx for you response. I looks like it should do the trick. Thanx

···

On 11/23/06, Darshan.Ishaya <Darshan.Ishaya@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, I'm new to Ruby, but it was an interesting question so I gave it
a stab. My first idea was

a.sort == b.sort

which works if all the elements of an array of of the same class. But
if you mix objects of different class (like you example with Fixnums
and a String), sort() craps out on it. You can pass a block to sort,
but I couldn't think of a good way to use that to our advantage. So I
resorted to more of a brute force method:

def same_elems?(array1, array2)
  return false unless array1.length == array2.length

  tmp = array2.clone
  array1.each do |item|
    if i = tmp.index(item) then tmp.delete_at(i) end
  end
  return tmp.empty?
end

As far as I can tell it meets all of your criteria.

Darshan

16

This would remove duplicates prior to the comparison. I want to do the
comparison on the raw arrays since if there is duplicates in one and not the
other then they should not be equal.

···

On 11/23/06, stuart yarus <syarus@gmail.com> wrote:

What's wrong with:

irb(main):002:0> require 'set'
=> true
irb(main):003:0> t1 = [1,2,3,4,"abc"]
=> [1, 2, 3, 4, "abc"]
irb(main):004:0> t2 = [2,3,1,"abc",4]
=> [2, 3, 1, "abc", 4]
irb(main):005:0> s1 = Set.new(t1)
=> #<Set: {"abc", 1, 2, 3, 4}>
irb(main):006:0> s2 = Set.new(t2)
=> #<Set: {"abc", 1, 2, 3, 4}>
irb(main):007:0> s1 == s2
=> true
irb(main):008:0> s1.subset?(s2)
=> true
irb(main):009:0> s2.subset?(s1)
=> true

17

The Coolest Way:

def same_elems?(array1, array2)
  return false unless array1.length == array2.length

  compare = Proc.new do |x,y|
    if (x.class == y.class)
      x <=> y
    else
      x.class.to_s <=> y.class.to_s
    end
  end

  return array1.sort(&compare) == array2.sort(&compare)
end

That is cool.

It's conceptually simple, but I have no idea how it compares in speed

to the other ways. Can anyone give me a tip on a good way to
benchmark?

There is a benchmarking class built into core

the docs are at
http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Benchmark.html

There are a couple of examples there of its usage too.

thanx for your help with this one

···

On 11/23/06, Darshan.Ishaya <Darshan.Ishaya@gmail.com> wrote:

18

I'm replying to myself.

Morton smartly pointed out that elements can be arrays themselves. So, should we treat them as any other kind of object and compare them with ==?
I guess we should want to recursively apply our equality concept given by the OP.
So I modified my version:

   def are_these_arrays_equal?(a1, a2)
     return false unless a1.kind_of? Array and a2.kind_of? Array
     return false if a1.size != a2.size
     a2 = a2.dup # a2 will be modified, so let's duplicate it
     for i1 in a1
       return false unless a2.any? do |i2|
         if i1.kind_of? Array
           are_these_arrays_equal?(i1, i2)
         else
           i1 == i2
         end
       end
       # need to delete just the *first* occurrence of i1 in a2
       # (Array#delete deletes them all)
       found = false
       a2.delete_if do |i2|
         break if found # breaks if already deleted
         found = !found && if i1.kind_of? Array
           are_these_arrays_equal?(i1, i2)
         else
           i1 == i2
         end
       end
     end
     # a2 is now empty, since its size was equal to a1 size
     return true
   end

Of course this would be much simpler if we were redefining Array#== with this algorythm (there would be no need to check #kind_of?) but I really DON'T want to know what could happen by redefining Array#==, since every library could rely on it :stuck_out_tongue:
(Actually, it might be funny to find out)

···

On 23/nov/06, at 03:14, Gabriele Marrone wrote:

  def are_these_arrays_equal?(a1, a2)
    return false if a1.size != a2.size
    a2 = a2.dup # a2 will be modified, so let's duplicate it
    for i1 in a1
      return false unless a2.include? i1
      # need to delete just the *first* occurrence of i1 in a2
      # (Array#delete deletes them all)
      found = false
      a2.delete_if {|i2| found = !found && i1 == i2 }
    end
    # a2 is now empty, since its size was equal to a1 size
    return true
  end

This should work with multiple occurrences of the same object, different objects (so different object_id) that seem to be equal (by comparing them with ==), nil values (#find() is a bit tricky), objects that do not respond to <=>.
Did I miss any case?

--
Gabriele Marrone

19

Hi --

The Coolest Way:

def same_elems?(array1, array2)
return false unless array1.length == array2.length

compare = Proc.new do |x,y|
   if (x.class == y.class)

You'd probably want to throw in a "and if x.respond_to?('<=>')".

     x <=> y
   else
     x.class.to_s <=> y.class.to_s

The problem there is that it can't sort *within* a class that doesn't
have <=> (and if it did, it would have sorted it that way :slight_smile: So, for
example:

     p [:a,:b].sort(&compare) # => [:a,:b]
     p [:b,:a].sort(&compare) # => [:b,:a]

David

···

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006, Darshan.Ishaya wrote:

--
                   David A. Black | dblack@wobblini.net
Author of "Ruby for Rails" [1] | Ruby/Rails training & consultancy [3]
DABlog (DAB's Weblog) [2] | Co-director, Ruby Central, Inc. [4]
[1] Ruby for Rails | [3] http://www.rubypowerandlight.com
[2] http://dablog.rubypal.com | [4] http://www.rubycentral.org

20

Would this work?
a.sort_by{|n| n.hash} == b.sort_by {|n|n.hash}

Farrel

···

On 23/11/06, Darshan.Ishaya <Darshan.Ishaya@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, I'm new to Ruby, but it was an interesting question so I gave it
a stab. My first idea was

a.sort == b.sort

which works if all the elements of an array of of the same class. But
if you mix objects of different class (like you example with Fixnums
and a String), sort() craps out on it. You can pass a block to sort,
but I couldn't think of a good way to use that to our advantage. So I
resorted to more of a brute force method: