Ruby – “do … while” loop in Ruby

loopsruby

I'm using this code to let the user enter in names while the program stores them in an array until they enter an empty string (they must press enter after each name):

people = []
info = 'a' # must fill variable with something, otherwise loop won't execute

while not info.empty?
    info = gets.chomp
    people += [Person.new(info)] if not info.empty?
end

This code would look much nicer in a do … while loop:

people = []

do
    info = gets.chomp
    people += [Person.new(info)] if not info.empty?
while not info.empty?

In this code I don't have to assign info to some random string.

Unfortunately this type of loop doesn't seem to exist in Ruby. Can anybody suggest a better way of doing this?

Best Answer

CAUTION:

The begin <code> end while <condition> is rejected by Ruby's author Matz. Instead he suggests using Kernel#loop, e.g.

loop do 
  # some code here
  break if <condition>
end

Here's an email exchange in 23 Nov 2005 where Matz states:

|> Don't use it please.  I'm regretting this feature, and I'd like to
|> remove it in the future if it's possible.
|
|I'm surprised.  What do you regret about it?

Because it's hard for users to tell

  begin <code> end while <cond>

works differently from

  <code> while <cond>

RosettaCode wiki has a similar story:

During November 2005, Yukihiro Matsumoto, the creator of Ruby, regretted this loop feature and suggested using Kernel#loop.

Related Solutions

Ruby – How to call shell commands from Ruby

This explanation is based on a commented Ruby script from a friend of mine. If you want to improve the script, feel free to update it at the link.

First, note that when Ruby calls out to a shell, it typically calls /bin/sh, not Bash. Some Bash syntax is not supported by /bin/sh on all systems.

Here are ways to execute a shell script:

cmd = "echo 'hi'" # Sample string that can be used

Kernel#` , commonly called backticks – `cmd`

This is like many other languages, including Bash, PHP, and Perl.

Returns the result (i.e. standard output) of the shell command.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-60
```
value = `echo 'hi'`
value = `#{cmd}`
```
Built-in syntax, %x( cmd )

Following the x character is a delimiter, which can be any character. If the delimiter is one of the characters (, [, {, or <, the literal consists of the characters up to the matching closing delimiter, taking account of nested delimiter pairs. For all other delimiters, the literal comprises the characters up to the next occurrence of the delimiter character. String interpolation #{ ... } is allowed.

Returns the result (i.e. standard output) of the shell command, just like the backticks.

Docs: https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/master/syntax/literals_rdoc.html#label-Percent+Strings
```
value = %x( echo 'hi' )
value = %x[ #{cmd} ]
```
Kernel#system

Executes the given command in a subshell.

Returns true if the command was found and run successfully, false otherwise.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-system
```
wasGood = system( "echo 'hi'" )
wasGood = system( cmd )
```
Kernel#exec

Replaces the current process by running the given external command.

Returns none, the current process is replaced and never continues.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-exec
```
exec( "echo 'hi'" )
exec( cmd ) # Note: this will never be reached because of the line above
```

Here's some extra advice: $?, which is the same as $CHILD_STATUS, accesses the status of the last system executed command if you use the backticks, system() or %x{}. You can then access the exitstatus and pid properties:

$?.exitstatus

For more reading see:

Javascript – How to loop through or enumerate a JavaScript object

You can use the for-in loop as shown by others. However, you also have to make sure that the key you get is an actual property of an object, and doesn't come from the prototype.

Here is the snippet:

var p = {
    "p1": "value1",
    "p2": "value2",
    "p3": "value3"
};

for (var key in p) {
    if (p.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
        console.log(key + " -> " + p[key]);
    }
}

For-of with Object.keys() alternative:

var p = {
    0: "value1",
    "b": "value2",
    key: "value3"
};

for (var key of Object.keys(p)) {
    console.log(key + " -> " + p[key])
}

Notice the use of for-of instead of for-in, if not used it will return undefined on named properties, and Object.keys() ensures the use of only the object's own properties without the whole prototype-chain properties

Using the new Object.entries() method:

Note: This method is not supported natively by Internet Explorer. You may consider using a Polyfill for older browsers.

const p = {
    "p1": "value1",
    "p2": "value2",
    "p3": "value3"
};

for (let [key, value] of Object.entries(p)) {
  console.log(`${key}: ${value}`);
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ruby – How to call shell commands from Ruby

Javascript – How to loop through or enumerate a JavaScript object

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