From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2004-05-08T21:37:32+09:00
Subject: Re: How to get the last 5 elements of an array?

On Saturday, May 8, 2004, 10:24:02 PM, Xavier wrote:

> But [1,2][-5,5] =>> nil
> and Gavin wants [1,2] instead of nil

> How about

> def last5(arr)
>  if arr.length<5 then arr else arr[-5,5] end
> end


Right.  Now should that be necessary?  Grabbing the last 5 elements of
an array is the kind of thing that should be easy and obvious in Ruby.

So I propose that Array be changed so that

  def last5(arr)
    arr[-5..-1]
  end

meets the requirements I gave earlier.  That is

  last5 []                  # -> []
  last5 [1]                 # -> [1]
  last5 [1,2]               # -> [1,2]
  last5 [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]     # -> [3,4,5,6,7]
  last5 nil                 # -> error

Any thoughts before I raise an RCR?

Cheers,
Gavin