How to assign an element to a hash only if its value is not nil?

[Thomas W.]

hash = {}
hash[:key] = myvalue


How to assign hash[:key] only if myvalue is not nil?

Current solution is:

hash[:key] = myvalue unless myvalue.nil?


Is there something more beautiful?

 

[David J.Hamilton]

Excerpts from Thomas W.'s message of Thu Mar 03 09:10:26 -0800 2011:

How to assign hash[:key] only if myvalue is not nil?

Current solution is:

hash[:key] = myvalue unless myvalue.nil?


Is there something more beautiful?

There is an alternate way. Whether it is more beautiful or not is for you to
decide.

myvalue and hash[:hey] = myvalue


ruby-1.9.2-p136 :001 > h, m, n = {}, 3, nil
=> [{}, 3, nil]
ruby-1.9.2-p136 :003 > m and h[:m] = m
=> 3
ruby-1.9.2-p136 :004 > n and h[:n] = n
=> nil
ruby-1.9.2-p136 :005 > h
=> {:m=>3}

 

[Michael Edgar]

If you don't mind also overwriting the value if the value is false as =
well as if the value is nil,
you can use the common ||=3D approach:

hash[:key] ||=3D myvalue

Michael Edgar
(e-mail address removed)
http://carboni.ca/

 

[Mike Moore]

hash =3D {}
=A0 =A0hash[:key] =3D myvalue


How to assign hash[:key] only if myvalue is not nil?

Current solution is:

=A0 =A0hash[:key] =3D myvalue unless myvalue.nil?


Is there something more beautiful?

You could assign the all values and then remove the just the nil
values afterward.

=A0 >> h =3D { ne =3D> 1, :two =3D> 2, :three =3D> nil, :four =3D> 4, :fi=
ve =3D> nil }
=A0 =3D> {:three=3D>nil, :four=3D>4, :five=3D>nil, ne=3D>1, :two=3D>2}
=A0 >> h[:six] =3D 6
=A0 =3D> 6
=A0 >> h[:seven] =3D nil
=A0 =3D> nil
=A0 >> h.delete_if { |k, v| v.nil? }
=A0 =3D> {:four=3D>4, :six=3D>6, ne=3D>1, :two=3D>2}

 

[Gary Wright]

Current solution is:
=20
hash[:key] =3D myvalue unless myvalue.nil?
=20
Is there something more beautiful?

I tend to use #nil? and 'unless' sparingly and using them together like =
this makes my brain work to hard.

Do you care specifically about distinguishing between nil and false? If =
not:

hash[:key] =3D myvalue if myvalue

would work. So would good old:

if myvalue
hash[:key] =3D myvalue
end

or maybe

hash.store(key, myvalue) if myvalue

if you don't like the look of the assignment.

What is your default value for the hash?
Do you need to avoid creating a key if myvalue is nil?

If nil is your default value and you don't care about extra keys, then =
just do the assignment regardless of the value of myvalue. I would even =
suggest that you might want to arrange the rest of your code so that =
this is true. The idea is to work with the grain of Hash's normal =
behavior rather than fight against it.

Gary Wright=

 

[Gary Wright]

If you don't mind also overwriting the value if the value is false as = well as if the value is nil,
you can use the common ||=3D approach:
=20
hash[:key] ||=3D myvalue

That is different than what the OP described as it depends on the =
existing value of hash[:key] but the OP wanted the assignment =
conditional on the new value ('myvalue').

Gary Wright=

 

[Michael Edgar]

Whoa, whoops, completely misread that. Early morning e-mail, disregard.

Michael Edgar
(e-mail address removed)
http://carboni.ca/

=20
On Mar 3, 2011, at 12:38 PM, Michael Edgar wrote:
=20

If you don't mind also overwriting the value if the value is false as = well as if the value is nil,
you can use the common ||=3D approach:
=20
hash[:key] ||=3D myvalue

=20
=20
That is different than what the OP described as it depends on the =

existing value of hash[:key] but the OP wanted the assignment =
conditional on the new value ('myvalue').

 

[Robert Klemme]

hash = {}
hash[:key] = myvalue


How to assign hash[:key] only if myvalue is not nil?

Current solution is:

hash[:key] = myvalue unless myvalue.nil?


Is there something more beautiful?

You could assign the all values and then remove the just the nil
values afterward.

h = { ne => 1, :two => 2, :three => nil, :four => 4, :five => nil } => {:three=>nil, :four=>4, :five=>nil, ne=>1, :two=>2}
h[:six] = 6 => 6
h[:seven] = nil => nil
h.delete_if { |k, v| v.nil? }

=> {:four=>4, :six=>6, ne=>1, :two=>2}

Oh, this is so ugly. And also potentially inefficient since the hash
table might grow larger than needed.

Cheers

robert

 

[Mike Moore]

hash =3D {}
=A0 =A0hash[:key] =3D myvalue


How to assign hash[:key] only if myvalue is not nil?

Current solution is:

=A0 =A0hash[:key] =3D myvalue unless myvalue.nil?


Is there something more beautiful?

You could assign the all values and then remove the just the nil
values afterward.

=A0 >> =A0h =3D { ne =3D> =A01, :two =3D> =A02, :three =3D> =A0nil, :f= our =3D> =A04, :five =3D>
=A0nil }
=A0 =3D> =A0{:three=3D>nil, :four=3D>4, :five=3D>nil, ne=3D>1, :two=3D= 2}
=A0 >> =A0h[:six] =3D 6
=A0 =3D> =A06
=A0 >> =A0h[:seven] =3D nil
=A0 =3D> =A0nil
=A0 >> =A0h.delete_if { |k, v| v.nil? }
=A0 =3D> =A0{:four=3D>4, :six=3D>6, ne=3D>1, :two=3D>2}

Oh, this is so ugly. =A0And also potentially inefficient since the hash t= able
might grow larger than needed.

I disagree. I think removing nil values afterwards is nicer (more
beautiful?) than having the check on every single assignment. And this
isn't likely to be your bottleneck so trading a little inefficiency is
worthy of clearly communicating your intent, IMO.

 

[Robert Klemme]

On 03.03.2011 18:38, Mike Moore wrote:

You could assign the all values and then remove the just the nil
values afterward.

=A0 >> =A0h =3D { ne =3D> =A01, :two =3D> =A02, :three =3D> =A0nil, := four =3D> =A04, :five =3D>
=A0nil }
=A0 =3D> =A0{:three=3D>nil, :four=3D>4, :five=3D>nil, ne=3D>1, :two= =3D>2}
=A0 >> =A0h[:six] =3D 6
=A0 =3D> =A06
=A0 >> =A0h[:seven] =3D nil
=A0 =3D> =A0nil
=A0 >> =A0h.delete_if { |k, v| v.nil? }
=A0 =3D> =A0{:four=3D>4, :six=3D>6, ne=3D>1, :two=3D>2}

Oh, this is so ugly. =A0And also potentially inefficient since the hash = table
might grow larger than needed.

I disagree. I think removing nil values afterwards is nicer (more
beautiful?) than having the check on every single assignment. And this
isn't likely to be your bottleneck so trading a little inefficiency is
worthy of clearly communicating your intent, IMO.

If you want to clearly communicate the intent you can add a comment or
an assert statement to that effect. First inserting something that is
removed later is totally backwards. Plus, you might remove more than
intended, e.g. if there are nil values inserted previously and you
only want to avoid inserting nils during _this_ method call. So, your
proposed solution is less efficient and error prone. Now how is that
beautiful?

Cheers

robert

--=20
remember.guy do |as, often| as.you_can - without end
http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/

 

[Mike Moore]

If you want to clearly communicate the intent you can add a comment or
an assert statement to that effect. =A0First inserting something that is
removed later is totally backwards.

I'm sure there are cases where removing values from a hash is appropriate.

Plus, you might remove more than
intended, e.g. if there are nil values inserted previously and you
only want to avoid inserting nils during _this_ method call.

In that case where you don't want to remove all nil values from a hash
you shouldn't call `delete_if { |k, v| v.nil? }`

So, your
proposed solution is less efficient and error prone. =A0Now how is that
beautiful?

Ouch. So its ugly *AND* buggy...

# Check for nil values on hash assignment
# Assuming false is a valid value
h =3D {}
h[ne] =3D one if !one.nil? # local method
h[:two] =3D some_obj.two_method if !some_obj.two_method.nil?
tmp =3D expensive_format_three(some_obj, some_other_obj)
h[:three] =3D tmp if !tmp.nil?
h

# Delete nil values after hash assignment
h =3D {
ne =3D> one, # local method
:two =3D> some_obj.two_method,
:three =3D> expensive_format_three(some_obj, some_other_obj)
}.delete_if { |k, v| v.nil? }

 

[Colin Bartlett]

I'm sure there are cases where removing values from a hash is appropriate=

 

[Mike Moore]

I'm not sure what that code does, but taking what the OP wanted to do
as the starting point.

hash =3D {}
=A0 =A0hash[:key] =3D myvalue
How to assign hash[:key] only if myvalue is not nil?
Current solution is:
=A0 =A0hash[:key] =3D myvalue unless myvalue.nil?
Is there something more beautiful?

My assumption from the OP's question was that he wanted to populate a
new hash so that the keys's contain non-nil values. I offered a
slightly different approach to achieve the same result. (Please note I
said you "could", not "should".) My apologies for inflicting ugly or
dangerous code on you, I assumed the circumstances and tradeoffs
necessary for using (or not using) such an approach would be obvious.
My bad.