gistfile1.rb

# question asked on aardvark.com: http://vark.com/t/b27d66 
# Is there a ruby function to find the shortest and longest string inside an array? 
# (my array will only store a bunch of stirngs)

# Here's a snippet of Ruby code that should get you going...

>> %w{ foo bar blegga very-long-string }.sort { |a, b| a.length <=> b.length }.first 
=> "foo" 
>> %w{ foo bar blegga very-long-string }.sort { |a, b| a.length <=> b.length }.last 
=> "very-long-string" 
>> _ 

# A first alternative for the above...

>> %w{ foo bar blegga very-long-string }.sort_by { |x| x.length }.first 
=> "foo" 
>> %w{ foo bar blegga very-long-string }.sort_by { |x| x.length }.last 
=> "very-long-string" 
>> _

# A second alternative for the above...

>> %w{ foo bar blegga very-long-string }.min { |a, b| a.length <=> b.length }
=> "foo"
>> %w{ foo bar blegga very-long-string }.max { |a, b| a.length <=> b.length }
=> "very-long-string"
>> 

# Another way completely for finding the longest string...
# (finding shortest string left as exercise for the reader ;-)

>> %w{ foo bar blegga very-long-string }.inject("") { |longest, string| (string.length > longest.length) ? string : longest } 
=> "very-long-string" 
>> _