Literal quote in an array?

ruby-talk
1

using colons for now, but would like to somehow encapsulate a sentence
in this way (basically), with quotes.

speaker = ["joe ", "betty "]
expression = ["said: ", "replied: ", "stated: "]
content = ["hello.", "bye."]

053:0> sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0]
"joe replied: hello."
but I'd like to get:
"joe replied, "hello.""

thanks!

2

Simon Schuster wrote:

using colons for now, but would like to somehow encapsulate a sentence
in this way (basically), with quotes.

speaker = ["joe ", "betty "]
expression = ["said: ", "replied: ", "stated: "]
content = ["hello.", "bye."]

053:0> sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0]
"joe replied: hello."
but I'd like to get:
"joe replied, "hello.""

thanks!

'"hello"'
%q{"hello"}
"\"hello\""

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

3

This can work if you do not have strange characters in the content:
sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0].inspect

This is better:
sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + "\"#{content[0]}\""

···

2007/9/24, Simon Schuster <significants@gmail.com>:

using colons for now, but would like to somehow encapsulate a sentence
in this way (basically), with quotes.

speaker = ["joe ", "betty "]
expression = ["said: ", "replied: ", "stated: "]
content = ["hello.", "bye."]

053:0> sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0]
"joe replied: hello."
but I'd like to get:
"joe replied, "hello.""

thanks!

!DSPAM:46f7f33b123781222944467!

4

Simon Schuster wrote:

speaker = ["joe ", "betty "]
expression = ["said", "replied", "stated"]
content = ["hello.", "bye."]

053:0> sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0]
"joe replied: hello."
but I'd like to get:
"joe replied, "hello.""

I'd do it like this:
speaker = %w(joe betty)
expression = %w(said replied stated)
content = %w(hello. bye.)
sentence = "#{speaker[0]} #{expression[1]}, #{content[0].inspect}"

If using inspect feels too hackish to you, you could use \"#{content[0]}\"
instead.

HTH,
Sebastian

···

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ICQ: 205544826

5

Seeing what you're doing, I thought I'd show you my "String#variation"
method, that allows you to write a generic sentence like this:
  q = "(How (much|many)|What) is (the (value|result) of)? "
and generate random variations on it via:
  q.variation

If you have variables you want to substitute into the string, you can
either do that during construction (if they never change):
  q = "(Hello|Howdy), #{name}"
or you can substitute the name variable on the fly:
  q = "(Hello|Howdy), :name"
  greeting = q.variation( :name=>"Bob" )

I wrote this code for my solution to Quiz #48 [1], and have only ever
used it there, but it's reasonably simple and seems solid enough.

class String
   def variation( values={} )
     out = self.dup
     while out.gsub!( /\(([^())?]+)\)(\?)?/ ){
       ( $2 && ( rand > 0.5 ) ) ? '' : $1.split( '|' ).random
     }; end
     out.gsub!( /:(#{values.keys.join('|')})\b/ ){ values[$1.intern] }
     out.gsub!( /\s{2,}/, ' ' )
     out
   end
end

Perhaps you will find it useful.

[1] http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/157538

···

On Sep 24, 11:28 am, "Simon Schuster" <significa...@gmail.com> wrote:

using colons for now, but would like to somehow encapsulate a sentence
in this way (basically), with quotes.

speaker = ["joe ", "betty "]
expression = ["said: ", "replied: ", "stated: "]
content = ["hello.", "bye."]

053:0> sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0]
"joe replied: hello."
but I'd like to get:
"joe replied, "hello.""

6

Or better still:

sentence = %{#{speaker[0]} #{expression[1]} "#{content[0]}"}

Then you don't need the extra spaces in the speaker and expression elements.

-Rob

Rob Biedenharn http://agileconsultingllc.com
Rob@AgileConsultingLLC.com

···

On Sep 24, 2007, at 1:37 PM, Gaspard Bucher wrote:

2007/9/24, Simon Schuster <significants@gmail.com>:

using colons for now, but would like to somehow encapsulate a sentence
in this way (basically), with quotes.

speaker = ["joe ", "betty "]
expression = ["said: ", "replied: ", "stated: "]
content = ["hello.", "bye."]

053:0> sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0]
"joe replied: hello."
but I'd like to get:
"joe replied, "hello.""

thanks!

!DSPAM:46f7f33b123781222944467!

This can work if you do not have strange characters in the content:
sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0].inspect

This is better:
sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + "\"#{content[0]}\""

7

excellent, thank you

···

On 9/24/07, Gaspard Bucher <gaspard@teti.ch> wrote:

This can work if you do not have strange characters in the content:
sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0].inspect

This is better:
sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + "\"#{content[0]}\""

2007/9/24, Simon Schuster <significants@gmail.com>:
> using colons for now, but would like to somehow encapsulate a sentence
> in this way (basically), with quotes.
>
> speaker = ["joe ", "betty "]
> expression = ["said: ", "replied: ", "stated: "]
> content = ["hello.", "bye."]
>
> 053:0> sentence = speaker[0] + expression[1] + content[0]
> "joe replied: hello."
> but I'd like to get:
> "joe replied, "hello.""
>
> thanks!
>
>
> !DSPAM:46f7f33b123781222944467!
>
>

8

Oops, I forgot that this relies on having:

class Array
  def random
    self[ rand( self.length ) ]
  end
end

···

On Sep 24, 12:38 pm, Phrogz <phr...@mac.com> wrote:

class String
   def variation( values={} )
     out = self.dup
     while out.gsub!( /\(([^())?]+)\)(\?)?/ ){
       ( $2 && ( rand > 0.5 ) ) ? '' : $1.split( '|' ).random
     }; end
     out.gsub!( /:(#{values.keys.join('|')})\b/ ){ values[$1.intern] }
     out.gsub!( /\s{2,}/, ' ' )
     out
   end
end