From: William James <w_a_x_man@...>
Date: 2005-11-18T07:02:21+09:00
Subject: Re: extracting lines from an address

Benedikt Heinen wrote:
> >> I have an address stored in mysql as a text field.
> >> I'm using ActiveRecord to access the field.
> >> But how do I get each line of the address in to their own strings?
>
> >> Address = "12, HouseName
> >>            Street
> >>            City
> >>            Country"
> >>
> >> Address_line1 = "12, HouseName"
> >> Address_line2 = "Street"
> >> Address_line3 = "City"
> >> Address_line4 = "Country"
> >
> > address = "12, HouseName
> >           Street
> >           City
> >           Country"
> >
> > address_lines = address.split( /\n\s*/ )
> >
> > puts address_lines[0]
> >
> > address_line1, address_line2, address_line3, address_line4 =
> >  address.split( /\n\s*/ )
> >
> > puts address_line4
>
>
> This method has a couple of minor shortcomings - it does not eliminate all
> unnecessary whitespace (specifically, it does not look at whitespace at
> the beginning of the address field - if there were any, nor does it look
> at trailing whitespace).
>
> In that case, may I suggest the following solution?
> (for readability, I have shortened Address_line1-4 to al1-4...
>
>
>  	address = " 12, HouseName
>  	            Street
>  	            City
>  	            Country "
>
>  	# btw. you should never assume you'll just receive the 4 lines
>  	# you were expecting - this is why I added in the *remains which
>  	# will receive the extra lines, if any.
>  	al1,al2,al3,al4,*remains =address.split("\n").map { |l| l.strip }

I can't help but commend your work.  However, it has the minor
shortcoming that the split is not needed:

al1,al2,al3,al4,*remains =address.map { |l| l.strip }

> Benedikt
>
>    ALLIANCE, n.  In international politics, the union of two thieves who
>      have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that
>      they cannot separately plunder a third.
>  			(Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary)

--
Commendation, n.  The tribute we pay to achievements that resemble,
but do not equal, our own.
  ---  Ambrose Bierce