class Array

An Array object is an ordered, integer-indexed collection of objects, called elements; the object represents an array data structure.

An element may be any object (even another array); elements may be any mixture of objects of different types.

Important data structures that use arrays include:

There are also array-like data structures:

Array Indexes ↑

Array indexing starts at 0, as in C or Java.

A non-negative index is an offset from the first element:

A negative index is an offset, backwards, from the end of the array:

In-Range and Out-of-Range Indexes ↑

A non-negative index is in range if and only if it is smaller than the size of the array. For a 3-element array:

A negative index is in range if and only if its absolute value is not larger than the size of the array. For a 3-element array:

Effective Index ↑

Although the effective index into an array is always an integer, some methods (both within class Array and elsewhere) accept one or more non-integer arguments that are integer-convertible objects.

Creating Arrays ↑

You can create an Array object explicitly with:

A number of Ruby methods, both in the core and in the standard library, provide instance method to_a, which converts an object to an array.

Example Usage ↑

In addition to the methods it mixes in through the Enumerable module, the Array class has proprietary methods for accessing, searching and otherwise manipulating arrays.

Some of the more common ones are illustrated below.

Accessing Elements ↑

Elements in an array can be retrieved using the Array#[] method. It can take a single integer argument (a numeric index), a pair of arguments (start and length) or a range. Negative indices start counting from the end, with -1 being the last element.

arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
arr[2]    #=> 3
arr[100]  #=> nil
arr[-3]   #=> 4
arr[2, 3] #=> [3, 4, 5]
arr[1..4] #=> [2, 3, 4, 5]
arr[1..-3] #=> [2, 3, 4]

Another way to access a particular array element is by using the at method

arr.at(0) #=> 1

The slice method works in an identical manner to Array#[].

To raise an error for indices outside of the array bounds or else to provide a default value when that happens, you can use fetch.

arr = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f']
arr.fetch(100) #=> IndexError: index 100 outside of array bounds: -6...6
arr.fetch(100, "oops") #=> "oops"

The special methods first and last will return the first and last elements of an array, respectively.

arr.first #=> 1
arr.last  #=> 6

To return the first n elements of an array, use take

arr.take(3) #=> [1, 2, 3]

drop does the opposite of take, by returning the elements after n elements have been dropped:

arr.drop(3) #=> [4, 5, 6]

Obtaining Information about an Array ↑

Arrays keep track of their own length at all times. To query an array about the number of elements it contains, use length, count or size.

browsers = ['Chrome', 'Firefox', 'Safari', 'Opera', 'IE']
browsers.length #=> 5
browsers.count #=> 5

To check whether an array contains any elements at all

browsers.empty? #=> false

To check whether a particular item is included in the array

browsers.include?('Konqueror') #=> false

Adding Items to Arrays ↑

Items can be added to the end of an array by using either push or <<

arr = [1, 2, 3, 4]
arr.push(5) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
arr << 6    #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

unshift will add a new item to the beginning of an array.

arr.unshift(0) #=> [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

With insert you can add a new element to an array at any position.

arr.insert(3, 'apple')  #=> [0, 1, 2, 'apple', 3, 4, 5, 6]

Using the insert method, you can also insert multiple values at once:

arr.insert(3, 'orange', 'pear', 'grapefruit')
#=> [0, 1, 2, "orange", "pear", "grapefruit", "apple", 3, 4, 5, 6]

Removing Items from an Array ↑

The method pop removes the last element in an array and returns it:

arr =  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
arr.pop #=> 6
arr #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

To retrieve and at the same time remove the first item, use shift:

arr.shift #=> 1
arr #=> [2, 3, 4, 5]

To delete an element at a particular index:

arr.delete_at(2) #=> 4
arr #=> [2, 3, 5]

To delete a particular element anywhere in an array, use delete:

arr = [1, 2, 2, 3]
arr.delete(2) #=> 2
arr #=> [1,3]

A useful method if you need to remove nil values from an array is compact:

arr = ['foo', 0, nil, 'bar', 7, 'baz', nil]
arr.compact  #=> ['foo', 0, 'bar', 7, 'baz']
arr          #=> ['foo', 0, nil, 'bar', 7, 'baz', nil]
arr.compact! #=> ['foo', 0, 'bar', 7, 'baz']
arr          #=> ['foo', 0, 'bar', 7, 'baz']

Another common need is to remove duplicate elements from an array.

It has the non-destructive uniq, and destructive method uniq!

arr = [2, 5, 6, 556, 6, 6, 8, 9, 0, 123, 556]
arr.uniq #=> [2, 5, 6, 556, 8, 9, 0, 123]

Iterating over Arrays ↑

Like all classes that include the Enumerable module, Array has an each method, which defines what elements should be iterated over and how. In case of Array’s each, all elements in the Array instance are yielded to the supplied block in sequence.

Note that this operation leaves the array unchanged.

arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
arr.each {|a| print a -= 10, " "}
# prints: -9 -8 -7 -6 -5
#=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Another sometimes useful iterator is reverse_each which will iterate over the elements in the array in reverse order.

words = %w[first second third fourth fifth sixth]
str = ""
words.reverse_each {|word| str += "#{word} "}
p str #=> "sixth fifth fourth third second first "

The map method can be used to create a new array based on the original array, but with the values modified by the supplied block:

arr.map {|a| 2*a}     #=> [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]
arr                   #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
arr.map! {|a| a**2}   #=> [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]
arr                   #=> [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]

Selecting Items from an Array ↑

Elements can be selected from an array according to criteria defined in a block. The selection can happen in a destructive or a non-destructive manner. While the destructive operations will modify the array they were called on, the non-destructive methods usually return a new array with the selected elements, but leave the original array unchanged.

Non-destructive Selection ↑

arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
arr.select {|a| a > 3}       #=> [4, 5, 6]
arr.reject {|a| a < 3}       #=> [3, 4, 5, 6]
arr.drop_while {|a| a < 4}   #=> [4, 5, 6]
arr                          #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Destructive Selection ↑

select! and reject! are the corresponding destructive methods to select and reject

Similar to select vs. reject, delete_if and keep_if have the exact opposite result when supplied with the same block:

arr.delete_if {|a| a < 4}   #=> [4, 5, 6]
arr                         #=> [4, 5, 6]

arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
arr.keep_if {|a| a < 4}   #=> [1, 2, 3]
arr                       #=> [1, 2, 3]

What’s Here ↑

First, what’s elsewhere. Class Array:

Here, class Array provides methods that are useful for:

Methods for Creating an Array ↑

See also Creating Arrays.

Methods for Querying ↑

Methods for Comparing ↑

Methods for Fetching ↑

These methods do not modify self.

Methods for Assigning ↑

These methods add, replace, or reorder elements in self.

Methods for Deleting ↑

Each of these methods removes elements from self:

Methods for Combining ↑

Methods for Iterating ↑

Methods for Converting ↑

Other Methods ↑