Split array into hashes

Question

I have an array of values. For example:

arr = [
           "1", "customer_one", "down",
           "2", "up",
           "3", "down",
           "4", "customer_two", "up",
           "5", "for_vpn", "down"
         ]

These values describe ports info of router. I want to get array of hashes something like this:

[
  {:name=>"1", :description=>"customer_one", :state=>"down"},
  {:name=>"2", :description=>"", :state=>"up"},
  {:name=>"3", :description=>"", :state=>"down"},
  {:name=>"4", :description=>"customer_two", :state=>"up"},
  {:name=>"5", :description=>"for_vpn", :state=>"down"}
]

Please note that between arr[3] and arr[4], arr[5] and arr[6] there is no element that has description value but the result hash must contain key description equals to empty string :description=>""

Answer 1

arr
.slice_before{|e| e !~ /\D/}
.map do
  |name, description = "", state|
  {name: name, description: description, state: state}
end