From: John Pritchard-williams <monojohnny@...>
Date: 2008-08-08T06:59:13+09:00
Subject: Most compact command for associate array 'totalling'?

Ok - in 'awk' you can do this: (Where 'array' is empty initially)

array[<string>]++


For instance:

array["abc"]++; => a["abc"]=1
array["abc"]++; => a["abc']=2
...

Which is really useful for tallying up a complete column of varying
values from a text file where you don't know in advance the what may
appear in a column etc...

In Ruby, I have worked out a similar the equivalent to be: (with a Hash
now...)


a={};
a["abc"]=a["abc"].to_i+1;


But I"m sure there is a shorter way ? Better trick available here?

As an aside to 'to_i' is to turn the 'nil' into zero: is this safe to
assume this?

Thanks - sorry if this is stupid question....

John
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