FAQs on the exercise Iterating Over Multidimensional Arrays
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Here is what I did:
s = [[“ham”, “swiss”], [“turkey”, “cheddar”], [“roast beef”, “gruyere”]]
sub_array = 0
s.each do |x| sub_array = x
sub_array.each do |y| puts y end
end
This was the first head scratcher lesson that I had. This was the code I wrote to satisfy the scenario:
s = [[“ham”, “swiss”], [“turkey”, “cheddar”], [“roast beef”, “gruyere”]]
s.each do |sub_array| # This grabs each sub array inside s and assigns it to sub_array
sub_array.each do |y| # For each of the elements in the sub_array addign it to y
puts y # prints each element
end
end
This took me a sec to figure out but after a handful of attempts, I was able to condense it into one line.
This first attempt here is how I got to list all of the words but they were out of order (0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1). This satisfied the criteria but it only felt half correct since I wanted to list out what I called ingredients in sequential order (0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1).
s = [[“ham”, “swiss”], [“turkey”, “cheddar”], [“roast beef”, “gruyere”]]
This second answer satisfies the criteria listing the ingredients in sequential order. After breaking s into subarrays I broke the subarray into individual ingredients then puts each ingredient so they list out (0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1).
s = [[“ham”, “swiss”], [“turkey”, “cheddar”], [“roast beef”, “gruyere”]]
s = [[“ham”, “swiss”], [“turkey”, “cheddar”], [“roast beef”, “gruyere”]]
s.each do |nested_array| #goes through each array in the s array, with placeholder “nested_array”
nested_array.each do |ingredient| #goes through items in nested array’s and calls it “ingredient”
puts ingredient #then puts out all of those “ingredient” items to the console
end
end
Here below, was my lucky/thoughtful guess which turned out to yield the correct results in the console, even though this wasn’t what the lesson was looking for.
s = [[“ham”, “swiss”], [“turkey”, “cheddar”], [“roast beef”, “gruyere”]]
s.each { |x, y| puts x }
s.each { |x, y| puts y }
Can anyone explain why this works? Does it have something to do with multidimensionals and x, y? Thank you!
#|x, y| => x
ham
turkey
roast beef
#|x, y| => y
swiss
cheddar
gruyere
When we specify a pair of block parameters, Ruby would appear to match them up with values in the nested array. It’s almost like saying, Each value pair in s. That’s what we observe.
The why and wherefore will obviously go much deeper than this.
A single block parameter will issue forth each nested array, in turn, and as an array. Doubling up the parameter must be a signal to Ruby to unpack the nested arrays as they are encountered and render only the values to x and y.
Below we iterate the array and iterate its nests, putting one value at a time.
s = [["ham", "swiss"], ["turkey", "cheddar"], ["roast beef", "gruyere"]]
s.each do |sub_array|
sub_array.each do |sub_sub_array|
puts sub_sub_array
end
end
Hi all! This is a 3 part question. I think I’m making quite a few mistakes, and I’m not understanding/missing a key component. This is my first foray into coding and on this forum. Please let me know if there is anyway I can convey my questions better on the forum. Thank you.
Question 1
I would like to put only a list of the cheeses
s = [[“ham”, “swiss”], [“turkey”, “cheddar”], [“roast beef”, “gruyere”]]
Is it possible to pull up a list of only the y of |x,y| using something like below; I got no output when executed? Or is the |x,y| assigning variables but not indicating indicies?
s.each { |sub_array| sub_array.each { |x,y| puts y}}
There was a prior example in a lesson that showed we could do this.
family = {“Homer” => :dad", “Marge” => “mom”, “Bart” => “son”, “Lisa” => “daugter”}
family.each {|x,y| puts “#{y}”}
==> dad
mom
son
daughter
So I tried
s.each { |sub_array| sub_array.each { |x,y| puts “#{y}”}}
But it again gave me an entire list of both meat and cheeses
Because [0] and [1] refers to indexes, it made sense that list of values can be pulled up via:
s[0][2]
or (putting entire meat list with [0], or entire cheese list with [1])
s.each { |sub_array| puts sub_array[0]}
s.each { |sub_array| puts sub_array[1]}
Question part 2
Is it possible to puts an individual cheese of a sub array, in this case for example [[“ham”, “swiss”], etc] other than using puts s[0][1]?
Question part 3
When assigning key value pairs, is it possible to input a value to output the key? Or is the is it not really treated like indices?
Their explanation was the first time it clicked for me too on this one. Why was the code so much easier than the sub_array stuff they were trying to get you to do? That just confused me until I saw this post.
I don’t understand why this works: s.each { |sub_array| sub_array.each { |y| puts y}}
I’m trying to explain to myself what I’ve asked it to do, but I’m lost. Something like this: take the s array and for each sub_array iterate over each element of that and put string y? How does it know to put string x?
s is an array of arrays i.e. each element of this array is an array.
s.each {|sub_array| ...} iterates over each element of the array and in every iteration the element is assigned to the variable sub_array ( Remark: There is nothing special about the name sub_array. You could have picked a different name for the variable e.g. s.each {|x| ...} or some other name).
The each method passes in one element at a time to the block and assigns it to the parameter sub_array. In other words, in the first iteration, sub_array will be assigned ["ham", "swiss"]. In the second iteration, sub_array will be assigned ["turkey", "cheddar"] and so on.
sub_array.each {|y| puts y} iterates over each element of the sub_array and assigns it to a variable y. Again, nothing special about the choice of name of y.
Basically, this is what is happening:
The first iteration of the outer each assigns the array ["ham", "swiss"] to the variable sub_array. Then, the inner each iterates over sub_array. In the first iteration of the inner each, y will be assigned the string "ham" and puts will show the string on screen. Then the second iteration of the inner each, y will be assigned the string "swiss" and will be shown on screen. Since there are no more elements in sub_array, so the inner each is finished.
Now, we run the second iteration of the outer each and assign the array ["turkey", "cheddar"] to sub_array. Then, just as above the inner each iterates over this sub_array and so on …
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