Array Shortcuts

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Ruby journey. Lesson 64 of 88.

Ruby provides convenient shortcuts for creating arrays, especially when working with strings or sequential numbers. These shortcuts save time and make your code cleaner.

The %w syntax creates an array of strings without needing quotes or commas:

fruits = %w[apple banana cherry]
puts fruits  # Outputs: apple, banana, cherry

This is equivalent to writing ["apple", "banana", "cherry"] but much more concise. Each word separated by a space becomes a separate element.

For arrays of symbols, use %i:

statuses = %i[pending active completed]
puts statuses  # Outputs: pending, active, completed

To create arrays of sequential numbers, you can convert a range to an array using to_a:

numbers = (1..5).to_a
puts numbers  # Outputs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

You can also use the splat operator * inside array brackets:

countdown = [*5..10]
puts countdown  # Outputs: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

These shortcuts are particularly useful when you need to quickly define a list of known values without the visual clutter of quotes and commas.

Challenge

Easy

Read two inputs:

A single line of space-separated words (e.g., red green blue yellow)
Two integers separated by a comma representing a range (e.g., 3,7)

Perform the following tasks:

Create an array of strings from the first input using the %w shortcut syntax. Since the input is already a string, you'll need to use split to convert it to an array first, then demonstrate %w by creating a separate array with the words alpha, beta, gamma.
Create an array of symbols using %i with the values start, middle, end.
Create an array of sequential numbers from the range provided in the second input using the splat operator * inside array brackets.

Print the following on separate lines:

Each element of the input words array
A blank line
Each element of the %w array (alpha, beta, gamma)
A blank line
Each element of the %i symbols array
A blank line
Each element of the number range array

For example, if the inputs are red green blue and 1,5, the output should be:

red
green
blue

alpha
beta
gamma

start
middle
end

1
2
3
4
5

If the inputs are sun moon star and 10,13, the output should be:

sun
moon
star

alpha
beta
gamma

start
middle
end

10
11
12
13

Try it yourself

# Read the space-separated words
words_input = gets.chomp

# Read the range (two integers separated by comma)
range_input = gets.chomp

# TODO: Write your code below
# 1. Create an array from words_input using split
# 2. Create a %w array with alpha, beta, gamma
# 3. Create a %i array with start, middle, end
# 4. Parse the range and create an array using splat operator (*)

# Output each array's elements on separate lines with blank lines between arrays