Question

I need to convert an array of strings and integers into a conjoined string, while preserving the single quotes around the string values. For example, I need to turn this:

["abc", "xyz", 123, 456]

into this:

"'abc','xyz',123,456"

I tried variations on join and to_s, but that’s not quite doing the trick. Any help is appreciated.

I got it working with a one-liner:

["abc", "xyz", 123, 456].to_s.gsub(/[\[\]\"]/,'[' =>'','"'=>'\'')
#=> "'abc', 'xyz', 123, 456"

but I’m still curious if there’s a better way.

Answer 1

When array has strings with numbers to_i converts to integer. If you want to retain it as string. I think you need to use this.

      arr=["123", "abc", 123]
      arr.collect{|e|( e.is_a? Integer)? e :"'#{e}'"}.join(',') #=> "'abc','123',1,3"