ruby string question

[Tsunami Scripter]

Is it possible to modify an existing ruby string without creating a new
one ?

If for example I have the following code :

x = "first string"
x = "second string"

between asigning values , the object_id() is different . Is there a
possibility to modify the first string so that after the modifications
the object_id will be the same ?

I would like to know how I could get to an empty string from "first
string". I would like to know if a clear method exists,or something
alike. I'm using ruby 1.8.7 .

 

[Robert Dober]

Is it possible to modify an existing ruby string without creating a new
one ? yes

If for example I have the following code :

x = "first string"
x "second string"

x.clear << "second string"
x.sub! /first/, "second"
x[0..4] = "second"

I would like to know how I could get to an empty string from "first
string".

I guess my first example answers this.
HTH
Robert

 

[Tsunami Scripter]

irb(main):005:0> x = "string"
=> "string"
irb(main):006:0> x.clear
NoMethodError: undefined method `clear' for "string":String
from (irb):6
from :0

Perhaps you're using a different version of ruby .

 

[Robert Dober]

irb(main):005:0> x = "string"
=> "string"
irb(main):006:0> x.clear
NoMethodError: undefined method `clear' for "string":String
from (irb):6
from :0

Perhaps you're using a different version of ruby .

Yup, I thought this was back-ported to 1.8.7 my error.

R

 

[Jesús Gabriel y Galán]

Is it possible to modify an existing ruby string without creating a new
one ?

If for example I have the following code :

x = "first string"
x = "second string"

between asigning values , the object_id() is different . Is there a
possibility to modify the first string so that after the modifications
the object_id will be the same ?

=> 340702860

I would like to know how I could get to an empty string from "first
string". I would like to know if a clear method exists,or something
alike. I'm using ruby 1.8.7 .

a.replace ""

Jesus.

 

[Tsunami Scripter]

Just what I needed.

Thanks !

 

[Julian Leviston]

x.delete!(x) << "new value"

Before and after, the object id will be identical.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[Tom Link]

Is it possible to modify an existing ruby string without creating a new

one ?
[...]
between asigning values , the object_id() is different

I could be totally wrong but IMHO you're asking for two different
things.

As soon as you have something like "second string" in your code you
will create a second string. You can assign this to the variable (the
variable's value will have a different object_id) or replace its
content with that string (the variables value will have same object_id
as before but in between you created a second string).

3.times do
puts "---------"
x = "one".tap {|s| puts "one #{s.object_id}"}
p x, x.object_id
x.replace("two".tap {|s| puts "two #{s.object_id}"})
p x, x.object_id
end