From: Andy Pipes <mypipeline@...>
Date: 2008-09-28T20:42:02+09:00
Subject: Merging hashes and having trouble with variable scope!

Hi.

Caveat: I'm just learning Ruby coming from some basic PHP programming.

In the following I am aiming to peer into two tab-separated files with
some vegetable facts on them. In the first 'column' of each file there
are vegetable names, followed by the data. However, whilst some of the
vegetables have the same name, others do not. My ultimate aim is to take
the contents of each of these files, and merge them into a master file,
and for those vegetables that have data in both files to merge the data.

So a line from file 1 might read:

Watermelon 60-80 4-10

and one file two:

Watermelon 1/2oz. 34 12-26 24-48

and in the masterfile I would want:

Watermelon 60-80 4-10 1/2oz. 34 12-26 24-48.

I have been trying unsuccessfully for the past two days to do this so
any help is greatly appreciated!!! :)

Here's some sample code:


File.foreach("vegetables.txt") do |line|
    name, temp, germ_days = line.split /\t/
    #split min and max germination temps
    if temp =~ /-/
      temp_min, temp_max = temp.split /-/
    else temp_min = temp and temp_max = temp
    end
    # split the min and max germ days
    if germ_days =~ /-/
      germ_days_min, germ_days_max = germ_days.split /-/
    else germ_days_min = germ_days and germ_days_max = germ_days
    end

    # now iterate over the other table
    File.foreach("vegetables2.txt") do |l|
      name2, crop_yield, space_between_rows, space_between_plants,
days_to_harvest = l.split /\t/
      #split min and max space between rows
      if space_between_rows =~ /-/
        space_between_rows_min, space_between_rows_max =
space_between_rows.split /-/
      else
        space_between_rows_min = space_between_rows and
space_between_rows_max = space_between_rows
      end
      # split the min and max space between plants
      if space_between_plants =~ /-/
        space_between_plants_min, space_between_plants_max =
space_between_plants.split /-/
      else
        space_between_plants_min = space_between_plants and
space_between_plants_max = space_between_plants
      end
      # split the min and max days to harvest
      if days_to_harvest =~ /-/
        days_to_harvest_min, days_to_harvest_max = days_to_harvest.split
/-/
      else
        days_to_harvest_min = days_to_harvest and days_to_harvest_max =
days_to_harvest
      end
      if name2 == name
        veggies =  {
            :name => name2,
            :crop_yield => crop_yield,
            :temp_min => temp_min,
            :temp_max => temp_max,
            :germ_days_min => germ_days_min,
            :germ_days_max => germ_days_max,
            :space_between_plants_min => space_between_plants_min,
            :space_between_plants_max => space_between_plants_max,
            :space_between_rows_min => space_between_rows_min,
            :space_between_rows_max => space_between_rows_min,
            :days_to_harvest_min => days_to_harvest_min,
            :days_to_harvest_max => days_to_harvest_max
        }
      end

puts veggies

end
end

If I run this, I get local variable not found errors; I've tried a lot
of variations, with no luck. I'm new to OO, and think that maybe I'm
just 'not getting it' in this case.

Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

Andy
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