From: Justin Collins <collinsj@...>
Date: 2006-07-07T03:09:47+09:00
Subject: Re: Question: formatting strings from array for text files

Dark Ambient wrote:
> Okay, I made some changes to my code.  I was using .to_yaml, without
> it, the extra characters are now gone.
>
> However, I'm writing this file successfully yet Ruby is returning false.
> So, perhaps someone would know why ? (btw, went from .docs to .mp3's)
>
> songs = Dir['c:/mp3/*.mp3']
> filename = 'songs.m3u'
>
> File.open filename, 'w' do |f|
>  f.puts songs
> end
>
> readlist = File.read filename
>
> puts(readlist == songs)
>
> Stuart
>
> On 7/6/06, Dark Ambient <sambient@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'd think there has to be a way.
>>
>> On 7/6/06, Dark Ambient <sambient@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Thank you that was a huge improvement, still battling a few more 
>> format issues:
>> > when I open the file:
>> > It has the 3 hypens as the first line and a hyphen before every file
>> > name.  Can't I get rid of those ?
>> >
>> > ---
>> > - c:/dir1/doc1.doc
>> > - c:/dir1/doc2.doc
>> > - c:/dir1/doc3.doc
>> > - c:/dir1/doc4.doc
>> > - c:/dir1/doc5.doc
>> > - c:/dir1/doc6.doc
>> >
>> >
>> > Stuart
>> > On 7/6/06, Justin Collins <collinsj@seattleu.edu> wrote:
>> > > Dark Ambient wrote:
>> > > > I must have not explained myself well.
>> > > > Right now my file looks like this:
>> > > >
>> > > > c:/dir1/doc1.docc;/dir1/doc3.docc:/dir1/doc4.docc:/dir1/doc5.doc
>> > > > ..........i.e. no line breaks
>> > > >
>> > > > I want it took look like this:
>> > > > c:/dir1/doc1.doc
>> > > > c;/dir1/doc3.doc
>> > > > c:/dir1/doc4.doc
>> > > > c:/dir1/doc5.doc
>> > > > ..........
>> > > >
>> > > > Stuart
>> > > >
>> > > > On 7/6/06, Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> > > >> 2006/7/6, Dark Ambient <sambient@gmail.com>:
>> > > >> > I'm not sure who to have an array format correctly when 
>> written to
>> > > >> a text file.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> What does "correctly" mean?
>> > > >>
>> > > >> > Doing something like myarray = 
>> ['five','four','three','two','one']
>> > > >> > works almost correctly but
>> > > >> > myarray = ['.././*.docs']  seems to write them out without 
>> linebreaks.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> This is not a print statement.  What did you do to actually 
>> print it?
>> > > >>
>> > > >> > So while I can figure out how to print them nicely using 
>> some iterator
>> > > >> > to the screen
>> > > >> > Using,
>> > > >> >       File.open filename, 'w' do |doc|
>> > > >> >       doc.write myarray
>> > > >> >       end
>> > > >> > I can't seem to figure out a way to format the strings 
>> correctly.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Try this:
>> > > >>
>> > > >> doc.write myarray.join ", "
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Depends on what you mean by "proper output".
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Kind regards
>> > > >>
>> > > >> robert
>> > > >>
>> > > >> --
>> > > >> Have a look: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fussel-foto/
>> > > >>
>> > > >>
>> > > >
>> > > Try using 'doc.puts' instead of 'doc.write'. 'puts' will 
>> automatically
>> > > add line breaks, whereas 'write' will not.
>> > >
>> > > -Justin
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>

You are comparing a string to an array. File.read returns a string. Try 
something like:

readlist = File.readlines(filename).map { |line| line.chomp}


File.readlines will return an array with an element for each line. But 
they will then have the end-of-line character attached (added when we 
wrote the file), so we have to remove those with chomp.

-Justin