From: botp <botpena@...>
Date: 2010-06-09T19:31:06+09:00
Subject: Re: (newbie) Array > Element Assignment > nil > Documentation

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Potato Peelings
<potato.peelings@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm checking http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Array.html#M002161 (Array

that's an old and buggy doc

try this 1.9 doc

  http://ruby-doc.org/core-1.9/classes/Array.html#M000418

btw, you can also use ri

eg


$ ri Array#[]=
Array#[]=

(from ruby core)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ary[index]         = obj                      ->  obj
  ary[start, length] = obj or other_ary or nil  ->  obj or other_ary or nil
  ary[range]         = obj or other_ary or nil  ->  obj or other_ary or nil

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Element Assignment---Sets the element at index, or replaces a subarray
starting at start and continuing for length elements, or
replaces a subarray specified by range.  If indices are greater than
the current capacity of the array, the array grows automatically. A negative
indices will count backward from the end of the array. Inserts elements if
length is zero. An IndexError is raised if a negative index
points past the beginning of the array. See also Array#push, and
Array#unshift.

  a = Array.new
  a[4] = "4";                 #=> [nil, nil, nil, nil, "4"]
  a[0, 3] = [ 'a', 'b', 'c' ] #=> ["a", "b", "c", nil, "4"]
  a[1..2] = [ 1, 2 ]          #=> ["a", 1, 2, nil, "4"]
  a[0, 2] = "?"               #=> ["?", 2, nil, "4"]
  a[0..2] = "A"               #=> ["A", "4"]
  a[-1]   = "Z"               #=> ["A", "Z"]
  a[1..-1] = nil              #=> ["A", nil]
  a[1..-1] = []               #=> ["A"]

best regards
-botp