From: Robert Klemme <bob.news@...>
Date: 2005-11-28T21:47:30+09:00
Subject: Re: from a file to an array of words

ngoc wrote:
> I want to compare two text(html) files. "diff" command in Linux
> compares only by line.
> In Ruby, I can use "File.readlines" and "split" later. Is there a
> single function(method) to go from a file to an array of words.

What is a word in your context?  If you want an array of tokens consisting
only of word characters you can do

words = File.read(file_name).scan(/\w+/)

Note though that this is memory intensive for large files.  This is a bit
more efficient:

words = File.open(file_name) do |io|
  io.inject([]) {|w, line| w.concat( line.scan( /\w+/ ) )}
end

Kind regards

    robert