From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2006-09-20T22:45:07+09:00
Subject: Re: The default array print format

On 20.09.2006 15:07, Bart Braem wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I was playing around with some LDAP results in a Rails system and it did not
> work at all, I kept getting strang --- and - in the results. It turned out
> I did not index the array properly and I was converting it to strings...
> Another thing I noticed lately is that when I try to print arrays they don't
> look as good as in say PHP.
> Now I wonder: isn't it possible to make array print nicer and clearer by
> default? I know there is a pretty print package, but why stick to a less
> clear default implementation?
> Just wondering of course...

Did you probably miss one of the standard methods available?

 >> a=%w{foo bar baz}
=> ["foo", "bar", "baz"]
 >> puts a
foo
bar
baz
=> nil
 >> p a
["foo", "bar", "baz"]
=> nil
 >> puts a.to_s
foobarbaz
=> nil
 >> puts a.inspect
["foo", "bar", "baz"]
=> nil

Granted, the version using to_s is certainly questionable but the other 
two alternatives (especially p, which uses #inspect internally) are 
pretty clear, aren't they?

Kind regards

	robert