From: mdrisser <mdrisser@...>
Date: 2008-10-28T04:39:38+09:00
Subject: String Comparison Problems

Hi All,

I'm having a baffling problem with string comparisons in Ruby.

The following code just does not act as expected.
measures_full = {'PROP 1A'=>'Safe, Reliable High-Speed Train Bond
Act',
                'PROP 2' =>'Standards for Confining Farm Animals',
                'PROP 3' =>'Children\'s Hospital Bond Act. Grant
Program.',
                'PROP 4' =>'Parent Notif. Before Terminating Minor\'s
Pregnancy',
                'PROP 5' =>'Nonviolent Drug Offense. Sentencing,
Parole, Rehab',
                'PROP 6' =>'Police, Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal
Laws.',
                'PROP 7' =>'Renewable Energy Generation',
                'PROP 8' =>'Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to
Marry',
                'PROP 9' =>'Criminal Justice System. Victims\' Rights.
Parole.',
                'PROP 10'=>'Altern. Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy
Bonds',
                'PROP 11'=>'Redistricting',
                'PROP 12'=>"Veterans' Bond"}
fixed_ca = Array.new
prop = String.new
lines = Array.new
i = 1;
j = 0;

puts ''
puts "-----------------------READING------------------------"
# Add prop numbers to props for CA feed
open('2008-CA_ElectionResults.csv', 'r') do |f|
  line = f.read
  lines = line.split("\n") # Not really sure why this is necessary,
                           # but for some reason its the only way to
                           # get each line into its own place in the
array.
  j += 1
  #puts j
end

puts "#{lines.length} entries"

lines.each do |line|
  vals = line.split('|')

  measures_full.each do |key, value|
    if value.eql? vals[0]
      puts vals[0]
      prop = "#{key} - #{value}|#{vals[1]}|#{vals[2]}|#{vals[3]}|
#{vals[4]}|#{vals[5]}|#{vals[6]}|#{vals[7]}|#{vals[8]}|#{vals[9]}"
      puts prop
      break
    else
      prop = line
      break
    end
  end
  #puts prop
  fixed_ca << prop
  i = i + 1
end

puts ''
puts "-----------------------WRITING------------------------"
open('2008-CA_Fixed.csv', 'w') do |f|
  fixed_ca.each do |e|
    f.puts e
  end
end

The file I'm opening contains:
U.S. President|0|0||Barack Obama|Democratic|9075132|58.1|09/24/2008|
12:38:04
U.S. President|0|0||John McCain|Republican|2251793|14.4|09/24/2008|
12:38:04
U.S. President|0|0||Alan Keyes|American Independent|2278411|14.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
U.S. President|0|0||Cynthia McKinney|Green|998072|6.3|09/24/2008|
12:38:04
U.S. President|0|0||Bob Barr|Libertarian|674352|4.3|09/24/2008|
12:38:04
U.S. President|0|0||Ralph Nader|Peace and Freedom|362310|2.3|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Senate District 39|0|0||Christine Kehoe|Democratic|136932|33.0|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Senate District 39|0|0||Jeff Perwin|Republican|261331|63.0|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Senate District 39|0|0||Jesse Thomas|Libertarian|16681|4.0|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 66|0|0||Grey Kenneth Frandsen|Democratic|
122204|60.7|09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 66|0|0||Kevin D. Jeffries|Republican|79276|
39.3|09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 73|0|0||Judy Jones|Democratic|116610|53.4|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 73|0|0||Diane L. Harkey|Republican|92806|42.4|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 73|0|0||Andrew "Andy" Favor|Libertarian|9332|
4.2|09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 74|0|0||Brett Deforest Maxfield|Democratic|
28453|12.9|09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 74|0|0||Martin Garrick|Republican|129486|59.2|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 74|0|0||Paul King|Libertarian|60934|27.9|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 75|0|0||Darren Kasai|Democratic|214795|93.1|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 75|0|0||Nathan Fletcher|Republican|808|0.3|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
State Assembly District 75|0|0||John Murphy|Libertarian|15359|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Standards for Confining Farm Animals|0|0||Yes||5200770|6.6|09/24/2008|
12:38:04
Standards for Confining Farm Animals|0|0||No||10439300|6.6|09/24/2008|
12:38:04
Children's Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program.|0|0||Yes||9756410|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Children's Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program.|0|0||No||5883660|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Parent Notif. Before Terminating Minor's Pregnancy|0|0||Yes||8111423|
6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Parent Notif. Before Terminating Minor's Pregnancy|0|0||No||7528647|
6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Nonviolent Drug Offense. Sentencing, Parole, Rehab|0|0||Yes||9168058|
6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Nonviolent Drug Offense. Sentencing, Parole, Rehab|0|0||No||6472012|
6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Police, Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Laws.|0|0||Yes||10148640|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Police, Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Laws.|0|0||No||5491430|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Renewable Energy Generation|0|0||Yes||7200459|6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Renewable Energy Generation|0|0||No||8439611|6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry|0|0||Yes||7924434|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry|0|0||No||7715636|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Criminal Justice System. Victims' Rights. Parole.|0|0||Yes||5266581|
6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Criminal Justice System. Victims' Rights. Parole.|0|0||No||10373489|
6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Safe, Reliable High-Speed Train Bond Act|0|0||Yes||5552432|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Safe, Reliable High-Speed Train Bond Act|0|0||No||10087638|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Altern. Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy Bonds|0|0||Yes||6104326|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Altern. Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy Bonds|0|0||No||9535744|6.6|
09/24/2008|12:38:04
Redistricting|0|0||Yes||10740910|6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Redistricting|0|0||No||4899160|6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Veterans' Bond|0|0||Yes||5284610|6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04
Veterans' Bond|0|0||No||10355460|6.6|09/24/2008|12:38:04

I *SHOULD* be getting 24 matches, but for some reason I'm only getting
2 and those are for measure_full['PROP 11']. I've even gone so far as
to copy and paste the values from the CSV file into the corresponding
places in the Hash, but it makes no difference, only
measure_full['PROP 11'] matches as expected.