Ruby将字符串像数字一样处理.我们用单引号('...')或双引号("...")将它们括起来.
ruby> "abc"
"abc"
ruby> 'abc'
"abc"
单引号和双引号在某些情况下有不同的作用.一个由双引号括起来的字符串允许字符由一个前置的斜杠引出,而且可以用#{}内嵌表达式.而
单引号括起来的字符串并不会对字符串作任何解释;你看到的是什么便是什么.几个例子:
ruby> print "a\nb\nc","\n"
a
c
nil
ruby> print 'a\nb\n',"\n"
a\nb\nc
nil
ruby> "\n"
"\n"
ruby> '\n'
"\\n"
ruby> "\001"
"\001"
ruby> '\001'
"\\001"
ruby> "abcd #{5*3} efg"
"abcd 15 efg"
ruby> var = " abc "
" abc "
ruby> "1234#{var}5678"
"1234 abc 5678"
Ruby的字符串操作比C更灵巧,更直观.比如说,你可以用+把几个串连起来,用*把一个串重复好几遍:
ruby> "foo" + "bar"
"foobar"
ruby> "foo" * 2
"foofoo"
相比之下,在C里,因为需要精确的内存管理,串联字符串要笨拙的多:
char *s = malloc(strlen(s1)+strlen(s2)+1);
strcpy(s, s1);
strcat(s, s2);
/* ... */
free(s);
但对于Ruby,我们不需要考虑字符串的空间占用问题,这令到我们可以从烦琐的内存管理中解脱出来.
下面是一些字符串的处理,
串联:
ruby> word = "fo" + "o"
"foo"
重复:
ruby> word = word * 2
"foofoo"
抽取字符(注意:在Ruby里,字符被视为整数):
ruby> word[0]
102 # 102 is ASCII code of `f'
ruby> word[-1]
111 # 111 is ASCII code of `o'
(负的索引指从字符串尾算起的偏移量,而不是从串头.)
提取子串:
ruby> herb = "parsley"
"parsley"
ruby> herb[0,1]
"p"
ruby> herb[-2,2]
"ey"
ruby> herb[0..3]
"pars"
ruby> herb[-5..-2]
"rsle"
检查相等:
ruby> "foo" == "foo"
true
ruby> "foo" == "bar"
false
注意:在Ruby 1.0里,以上结果以大写字母出现.
好,让我们来试试这些特性.下面是一个猜词的谜题,可能"谜题"这个词用在下面的东西上太酷了一点;-)
# save this as guess.rb
words = ['foobar', 'baz', 'quux']
secret = words[rand(3)]
print "guess? "
while guess = STDIN.gets
guess.chop!
if guess == secret
print "You win!\n"
break
else
print "Sorry, you lose.\n"
end
print "guess? "
end
print "The word was ", secret, ".\n"
现在,别太担心代码细节了.下面是谜题程序运行的一个对话.
% ruby guess.rb
guess? foobar
Sorry, you lose.
guess? quux
Sorry, you lose.
guess? ^D
The word was baz.
(考虑到1/3的成功率,也许我本该做得好一点.)