[ruby-core:31619] [Feature #3653] Diferential behaviour of positives and negatives ranges as subindex of string or arrays.

Feature #3653: Diferential behaviour of positives and negatives ranges as subindex of string or arrays.
http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/3653

Author: Daniel Silberschmidt
Status: Open, Priority: Normal
Category: misc

The expression '[a..b]' when applied to a string or to an array  return the slice from the string/array from a to b.
for example [0..3] returns the first four letters from a string
irb(main):004:0> "carromato"[0..3]
=> "carr"
the slice  [-4..-1] returns the last four letters from a string
irb(main):005:0> "carromato"[-4..-1]
=> "mato"
but if the length of the original string is smaller than the slice the results are conceptually very different depending on positive or negative indexes:
irb(main):006:0> "carromato"[0..24]
=> "carromato"
irb(main):007:0> "carromato"[-25..-1]
=> nil
I would like a simetric behaviour in the last case returning the whole word (and not nil). It would be more natural to have the same behaviour when exeding by left of by right of the string/array.
Does Anbody agree or disagree  whith my position?
Daniel


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