From: tamouse mailing lists <tamouse.lists@...>
Date: 2012-12-06T17:03:33+09:00
Subject: Re: Having isues with capitalizing words

On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 12:39 AM, tamouse mailing lists
<tamouse.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 10:10 PM, Matthew Kerwin <matthew@kerwin.net.au> wrote:
>> Try using "and"s instead of "or"s.
>>
>>
>> On 6 December 2012 14:02, JD KF <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> So, this is a method I have made:
>>>
>>> def  title(words)
>>>     words.gsub(/(\A|\s)\w/) do |word|
>>>   if(word!="and" || word!="an" || word!="the")
>>>       word.upcase
>>>   else
>>>       word.downcase
>>>   end
>>>     end
>>> end
>>>
>>> I have been trying to solve this for the longest time and I can't figure
>>> it out.
>>>
>>> All I want the method to do is take in a string and capitalize every
>>> word except for "and" and "an" and "the".
>>>
>>> The above will not do it and I really don't understand why.  I have
>>> tried a million versions of it as well.
>>>
>>> Can someone help me get in the right direction with this?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>   Matthew Kerwin, B.Sc (CompSci) (Hons)
>>   http://matthew.kerwin.net.au/
>>   ABN: 59-013-727-651
>>
>>   "You'll never find a programming language that frees
>>   you from the burden of clarifying your ideas." - xkcd
>
> or...
>
>
> 1.9.3-p194 :062 > phrase="the quick brown fox or a rabbit in the hen house"
>  => "the quick brown fox or a rabbit in the hen house"
> 1.9.3-p194 :064 > title=phrase.split.each{|w| unless %{and or a
> the}.include?(w) then w[0]=w[0].upcase end; w}.join(" ")
>  => "the Quick Brown Fox or a Rabbit In the Hen House"
> 1.9.3-p194 :065 > title[0]=title[0].upcase
>  => "T"
> 1.9.3-p194 :066 > title
>  => "The Quick Brown Fox or a Rabbit In the Hen House"
>

Combine sagy's and mine:

words.gsub!(/\w+/)do |match|
   %w{and or a an the of}.includes?(match) ? match : match.capitalize
end

(or just use gsub without the ! if you want to work on a copy instead
of original)