Ruby – elegantly convert variable to an array if not an array already

by

[*foo] or Array(foo) will work most of the time, but for some cases like a hash, it messes it up.

Array([1, 2, 3])    # => [1, 2, 3]
Array(1)            # => [1]
Array(nil)          # => []
Array({a: 1, b: 2}) # => [[:a, 1], [:b, 2]]

[*[1, 2, 3]]    # => [1, 2, 3]
[*1]            # => [1]
[*nil]          # => []
[*{a: 1, b: 2}] # => [[:a, 1], [:b, 2]]

The only way I can think of that works even for a hash is to define a method.

class Object; def ensure_array; [self] end end
class Array; def ensure_array; to_a end end
class NilClass; def ensure_array; to_a end end

[1, 2, 3].ensure_array    # => [1, 2, 3]
1.ensure_array            # => [1]
nil.ensure_array          # => []
{a: 1, b: 2}.ensure_array # => [{a: 1, b: 2}]

Leave a Comment