Ruby split String into two sections and put in hash with predefined keys

Question

I don't know if this is actually good ruby code, but what I am trying to do is split a String into two separate sections and put the two as values to two specific keys. For example:

  name_a = "Henry Fillenger".split(/\s+/,2)
  name = {:first_name => name_a[0], :last_name => name_a[1]}

I was wondering if this could be done in a single line through some ruby magic however.

Answer 1

You can use Hash[] and zip to do this:

name = Hash[ [:first_name, :last_name].zip("Henry Fillenger".split(/\s+/,2)) ]

However I'd say your version is more readable. Not everything has to be on one line.

Answer 2

Still two lines, but slightly more readable in my opinion,

first_name, last_name = "Henry Fillenger".split(/\s+/,2)
name = {:first_name => first_name, :last_name => last_name}

Answer 3

Just for fun, a non-split variant (which is also two lines):

m    = "Henry Fillenger".match(/(?<first_name>\S+)\s+(?<last_name>\S+)/)
name = m.names.each_with_object({ }) { |name, h| h[name.to_sym] = m[name] }

The interesting parts would be the named capture groups ((?<first_name>...)) in the regex and the general hash-ification technique using each_with_object. The named capture groups require 1.9 though.

If one were daring, one could monkey patch the each_with_object bit right into MatchData as, say, to_hash:

class MatchData
    def to_hash
        names.each_with_object({ }) { |name, h| h[name.to_sym] = self[name] }
    end
end

And then you could have your one-liner:

name = "Henry Fillenger".match(/(?<first_name>\S+)\s+(?<last_name>\S+)/).to_hash

I don't really recommend this, I only bring it up as a point of interest. I'm a little disappointed that MatchData doesn't have a to_h or to_hash method already, it would make a sensible complement to its to_a method.