Array of indexes to array of ranges

Question

Ranges in ruby are pretty cool. I end up with arrays such as this:

geneRanges = [(234..25), (500..510), (1640..1653)]

And subsequently have to remove bits of them. For that I:

genePositions = geneRanges.collect {|range| range.entries }.flatten
=> [500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 1640, 1641, 1642, 1643, 1644, 1645, 1646, 1647, 1648, 1649, 1650, 1651, 1652, 1653]

They get manipulated, so some numbers get excluded, and others may be added. I may end up with this:

[505, 506, 507, 600, 601, 602, 603, 1643, 1644, 1645, 1646, 1647, 1648, 1649, 1650, 1651, 1652, 1653, 1654]

How can I convert this back into a compact array of ranges? It seems that the inverse function should exist? I would expect it to return something like this:

[(505..507), (600..603), (1643..1654)]

Thanks!

Answer 1

(New and improved. Stays fresh in your refrigerator for up to two weeks!):

a = [1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 20, 20, 4]

ranges = a.sort.uniq.inject([]) do |spans, n|
  if spans.empty? || spans.last.last != n - 1
    spans + [n..n]
  else
    spans[0..-2] + [spans.last.first..n]
  end
end

p ranges    # [1..4, 10..11, 20..20]

Answer 2

Functional, not-very-readable solution:

(a[0,1]+a.each_cons(2).reject{|i,j| j-i==1}.flatten+a[-1,1]).
  each_slice(2).map{|i,j| i..j}

And a nice one:

class Array
  # splits array to sub-arrays wherever two adjacent elements satisfy a condition
  def split_by
    each_cons(2).inject([[first]]){|a, (i, j)|
      a.push([]) if yield(i, j)
      a.last.push j
      a
    }
  end

  # uses split_by to split array to subarrays with consecutive elements, then convert to range
  def to_range
    split_by{|i,j| j-i!=1}.map{|a| a.first..a.last}
  end
end

[505, 506, 507, 600, 1647, 1648, 1649, 1650, 1651, 1654].split_by{|i,j| j-i!=1}
#=> [[505, 506, 507], [600], [1647, 1648, 1649, 1650, 1651], [1654]]
[505, 506, 507, 600, 1647, 1648, 1649, 1650, 1651, 1654].to_range
#=> [505..507, 600..600, 1647..1651, 1654..1654]