From: Phrogz <phrogz@...>
Date: 2008-01-24T07:25:05+09:00
Subject: Re: Need to convert string to array

On Jan 23, 3:13 pm, Phrogz <phr...@mac.com> wrote:
> On Jan 23, 3:06 pm, jackster the jackle <cont...@thirdorder.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > I have the following data stored in a string. This data is composed of
> > many records.
>
> > This is a single record:
>
> > 2008-01-22,88.34,98.56,86.68,96.54,2175600,96.54
>
> > This is the string:
>
> > "2008-01-22,88.34,98.56,86.68,96.54,2175600,96.542008-01-18,92.23,96.58,90.77,92.98,3812400,92.982008-01-17,96.37,97.30,86.84,89.36,3753200,89.362008-01-16,101.74,103.33,94.16,95.43,2902800,95.432008-01-15,98.92,105.25,98.51,103.28,1881900,103.282008-01-14,96.30,102.44,96.30,100.52,1113900,100.522008-01-11,101.56,104.70,94.16,96.24,1516300,96.242008-01-10,102.00,103.85,98.03,102.78,1853800,102.782008-01-09,101.87,103.50,97.42,102.85,1205300,102.852008-01-08,105.00,109.50,101.89,102.28,1563800,102.282008-01-07,108.76,109.00,99.50,105.18,1779400,105.182008-01-04,110.27,110.45,106.49,107.54,1386000,107.542008-01-03,115.71,116.00,110.63,111.40,1213500,111.402008-01-02,116.75,119.00,113.20,115.24,1619800,115.24
> > \n"
>
> > I need to get the first element (2008-01-22) followed by the last
> > element (96.54) out for each record so I graph them.
>
> > Does anyone know of a way to perform this task?
>
> str =
> "2008-01-22,88.34,98.56,86.68,96.54,2175600,96.542008-01-18,92.23,96.58,90.77,92.98,3812400,92.982008-01-17,96.37,97.30,86.84,89.36,3753200,89.362008-01-16,101.74,103.33,94.16,95.43,2902800,95.432008-01-15,98.92,105.25,98.51,103.28,1881900,103.282008-01-14,96.30,102.44,96.30,100.52,1113900,100.522008-01-11,101.56,104.70,94.16,96.24,1516300,96.242008-01-10,102.00,103.85,98.03,102.78,1853800,102.782008-01-09,101.87,103.50,97.42,102.85,1205300,102.852008-01-08,105.00,109.50,101.89,102.28,1563800,102.282008-01-07,108.76,109.00,99.50,105.18,1779400,105.182008-01-04,110.27,110.45,106.49,107.54,1386000,107.542008-01-03,115.71,116.00,110.63,111.40,1213500,111.402008-01-02,116.75,119.00,113.20,115.24,1619800,115.24\n"
>
> # Find a date, followed by characters that we don't care about,
> # followed by a comma, followed by one or more non commas,
> # up until you see a date coming up
> year_and_chunk = str.scan( /(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}).+?,([^,]+)(?=\d{4}-
> \d{2}-\d{2})/ )

Oops...as shown in the output, the above fails to catch the very last
entry. Here's a fix (and also doesn't have the nonsensical comment the
last one had):

str =
"2008-01-22,88.34,98.56,86.68,96.54,2175600,96.542008-01-18,92.23,96.58,90.77,92.98,3812400,92.982008-01-17,96.37,97.30,86.84,89.36,3753200,89.362008-01-16,101.74,103.33,94.16,95.43,2902800,95.432008-01-15,98.92,105.25,98.51,103.28,1881900,103.282008-01-14,96.30,102.44,96.30,100.52,1113900,100.522008-01-11,101.56,104.70,94.16,96.24,1516300,96.242008-01-10,102.00,103.85,98.03,102.78,1853800,102.782008-01-09,101.87,103.50,97.42,102.85,1205300,102.852008-01-08,105.00,109.50,101.89,102.28,1563800,102.282008-01-07,108.76,109.00,99.50,105.18,1779400,105.182008-01-04,110.27,110.45,106.49,107.54,1386000,107.542008-01-03,115.71,116.00,110.63,111.40,1213500,111.402008-01-02,116.75,119.00,113.20,115.24,1619800,115.24\n"

# Find a date, followed by characters that we don't care about,
# followed by a comma, followed by one or more non commas,
# up until you see a date coming up
year_and_chunk = str.scan( /(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}).+?,([^,]+)(?=\d{4}-
\d{2}-\d{2}|$)/ )

puts year_and_chunk.flatten
#=> 2008-01-22
#=> 96.54
#=> 2008-01-18
#=> 92.98
#=> 2008-01-17
#=> 89.36
#=> 2008-01-16
#=> 95.43
#=> 2008-01-15
#=> 103.28
#=> 2008-01-14
#=> 100.52
#=> 2008-01-11
#=> 96.24
#=> 2008-01-10
#=> 102.78
#=> 2008-01-09
#=> 102.85
#=> 2008-01-08
#=> 102.28
#=> 2008-01-07
#=> 105.18
#=> 2008-01-04
#=> 107.54
#=> 2008-01-03
#=> 111.40
#=> 2008-01-02
#=> 115.24