Question

I have

strings = ["aaa", "bb", "ccc", "ddd", "e", "ff", "rrrrrrrr", "tttttttt", "a"]

I want to group the strings in the array so that each element is no longer then 5 and not shorter then 9. The strings have to maintain their order in the array.

EDIT: Sorry for confusion, yes – at least 5 and at most 9.

the outcome I am looking for is:

 result  = ["aaabbbccc", "dddeff", "rrrrrrrr", "tttttttta"]

Answer 1

Since your question was specified in a rather confusing way, this is the best I could come up with.

strings.inject(['']) { |a, s| a.last.size + s.size <= 9 ? a.last << s : a << s ; a }
#=> ["aaabbccc", "dddeff", "rrrrrrrr", "tttttttta"]