From: Rein Henrichs <reinh@...>
Date: 2010-06-11T07:50:31+09:00
Subject: Re: Numbering array values [multidimentional?!]

On 2010-06-10 14:02:40 -0700, Safas Khkjh said:

> Hi,
> I'm very new to Ruby (2 days), I'm mostly used to Python/PHP/C++.
> 
> What would be ideal would be a multidimensional array however from what
> I have read Ruby does not support multidimensional arrays.
> 
> I want to be able to store data within multiple arrays and have the
> values in all of the arrays linked together.
> 
> Example;
> 
> Array1
> [vegetable]
> [fruit]
> 
> Array2
> [carrot]
> [banana]
> 
> Array3
> [tomato]
> [apple]
> 
> I want to be able to some how output;
> 
> Vegetables;
> carrot, tomato
> 
> Fruit;
> banana, apple
> 
> With a multidimensional array this would be trivial;
> 
> [vegetable][carrot]
> [vegetable][tomato]
> [fruit][banana]
> [fruit][apple]
> 
> Any help much appreciated,
> Thank you.

In general, multidimensional arrays are just arrays that contain arrays:

[[1,1,1],
 [2,2,2],
 [3,3,3]]

However, a Hash seems more appropriate for your specific use case:

{"vegetable" => ["carrot", "tomato"],
 "fruit => ["banana", "apple"]}

-- 
Rein Henrichs
http://puppetlabs.com
http://reinh.com