Question

I’m trying to use Array.select to separate out, and then delete, strings from a database that contain unwanted items. I get no errors but this does not seem to be working as hoped.

The relevant code is the last part:

totaltext = []
masterfacs = ''
nilfacs = ''

roomfacs_hash = {'lcd' => lcd2, 'wifi'=> wifi2, 'wired' => wired2, 'ac' => ac2}
roomfacs_hash.each do |fac, fac_array| 
  if roomfacs.include? (fac) 
    totaltext = (totaltext + fac_array)
    masterfacs = (masterfacs + fac + ' ')
  else
    nilfacs = (nilfacs + fac + ' ')
  end
end

finaltext = Array.new
text_to_delete = totaltext2.select {|sentences| sentences =~ /#{nilfacs}/i}
finaltext = totaltext2.delete (text_to_delete)
puts finaltext

Answer 1

It’s probably not working because delete isn’t a chainable method (the return value is the object you are trying to delete on success, or nil if not found; not the modified array). To simplify your code, just use reject

finaltext = totaltext.reject{|sentence| nilfacs.any?{|fac| sentence =~ /#{fac}/i } }