From: John Carter <john.carter@...>
Date: 2004-06-28T13:57:34+09:00
Subject: Re: N Dimensional Hash?

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004, Jim Freeze wrote:

> Hi
>
> I'm looking for an object that behaves like a
> n-dimensional hash. We'll start with two dimensions
> to make this easy.

An idiom I quite often use is...
a = Hash.new {|hash,key| hash[key]=Hash.new(0)}

Although in your case you may want something like...
a = Hash.new {|hash,key| hash[key]={}}
   or
a = Hash.new {|hash,key| hash[key]=Hash.new{|h,k| h[k]={}}}

I just love ruby.

Of course, you could fall back on the old "awk" standby...

key = %w{a b c d}

hash = {}
hash[key.join("#")]=whatever




John Carter                             Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639
Tait Electronics                        Fax   : (64)(3) 359 4632
PO Box 1645 Christchurch                Email : john.carter@tait.co.nz
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