Creating a range

Two dots: inclusive

up_to_100 = 1..100

Three dots: exclusive

up_to_99 = 1...100

Ranges can turn into arrays

>> (1..10).to_a
=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Ranges act like virtual arrays

>> (1..10).map{|x| x*2}
=> [2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20]

String ranges

>> alphabet = "a".."z"
=> "a".."z"
>> alphabet.to_a
=> ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", 
    "g", "h", "i", "j", "k", "l", 
    "m", "n", "o", "p", "q", "r", 
    "s", "t", "u", "v", "w", "x", 
    "y", "z"]

Common uses of ranges

• Ranges are primarily used for

  • looping

    (1..10).each do |i|
      puts "#{i} mississippi"
    end
    

  • string or array indexing

    >> "my bologna has a first name"[3..10]
    => "bologna "
    

Range methods

```ruby
>> up_to_10 = 1..10
=> 1..10

>> up_to_10.begin
=> 1

>> up_to_10.end
=> 10

>> up_to_10.exclude_end?
=> false

>> up_to_10.include? 5
=> true

>> up_to_10.include? 15
=> false

String ranges have weird semantics (advanced)

>> alphabet.include? "c"
=> true
>> alphabet.include? "abc"
=> false
>> alphabet.cover? "abc"
=> true

cover? just checks whether the parameter falls between the endpoints, not whether it is inside the virtual array

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