samhuri.net: Enumurable#pluck and String#to

Enumurable#pluck and String#to_proc for Ruby

10th May, 2007 ∞

I wanted a method analogous to Prototype's pluck and invoke in Rails for building lists for options_for_select. Yes, I know about options_from_collection_for_select.

I wanted something more general that I can use anywhere - not just in Rails - so I wrote one. In a second I'll introduce Enumerable#pluck, but first we need some other methods to help implement it nicely.

First you need Symbol#to_proc, which shouldn't need an introduction. If you're using Rails you have this already.

Symbol#to_proc

class Symbol
  # Turns a symbol into a proc.
  #
  # Example:
  #   # The same as people.map { |p| p.birthdate }
  #   people.map(&:birthdate)
  #
  def to_proc
    Proc.new {|thing, *args| thing.send(self, *args)}
  end
end

Next we define String#to_proc, which is nearly identical to the Array#to_proc method I previously wrote about.

String#to_proc

class String
  # Turns a string into a proc.
  #
  # Example:
  #   # The same as people.map { |p| p.birthdate.year }
  #   people.map(&'birthdate.year')
  #
  def to_proc
    Proc.new do |*args|
      split('.').inject(args.shift) do |thing, msg|
        thing = thing.send(msg.to_sym, *args)
      end
    end
  end
end

Finally there's Enumerable#to_proc which returns a proc that passes its parameter through each of its members and collects their results. It's easier to explain by example.

Enumerable#to_proc

module Enumerable
  # Effectively treats itself as a list of transformations, and returns a proc
  # which maps values to a list of the results of applying each transformation
  # in that list to the value.
  #
  # Example:
  #   # The same as people.map { |p| [p.birthdate, p.email] }
  #   people.map(&[:birthdate, :email])
  #
  def to_proc
    @procs ||= map(&:to_proc)
    Proc.new do |thing, *args|
      @procs.map do |proc|
        proc.call(thing, *args)
      end
    end
  end
end

Here's the cool part, Enumerable#pluck for Ruby in all its glory.

Enumerable#pluck

module Enumerable
  # Use this to pluck values from objects, especially useful for ActiveRecord models.
  # This is analogous to Prototype's Enumerable.pluck method but more powerful.
  #
  # You can pluck values simply, like so:
  #   >> people.pluck(:last_name)  #=> ['Samhuri', 'Jones', ...]
  #
  # But with Symbol#to_proc defined this is effectively the same as:
  #   >> people.map(&:last_name)   #=> ['Samhuri', 'Jones', ...]
  #
  # Where pluck's power becomes evident is when you want to do something like:
  #   >> people.pluck(:name, :address, :phone)
  #        #=> [['Johnny Canuck', '123 Maple Lane', '416-555-124'], ...]
  #
  # Instead of:
  #   >> people.map { |p| [p.name, p.address, p.phone] }
  #
  #   # map each person to: [person.country.code, person.id]
  #   >> people.pluck('country.code', :id)
  #        #=> [['US', 1], ['CA', 2], ...]
  #
  def pluck(*args)
    # Thanks to Symbol#to_proc, Enumerable#to_proc and String#to_proc this Just Works(tm)
    map(&args)
  end
end

I wrote another version without using the various #to_proc methods so as to work with a standard Ruby while only patching 1 module.

module Enumerable
  # A version of pluck which doesn't require any to_proc methods.
  def pluck(*args)
    procs = args.map do |msgs|
      # always operate on lists of messages
      if String === msgs
        msgs = msgs.split('.').map {|a| a.to_sym} # allow 'country.code'
      elsif !(Enumerable === msgs)
        msgs = [msgs]
      end
      Proc.new do |orig|
        msgs.inject(orig) { |thing, msg| thing = thing.send(msg) }
      end
    end

    if procs.size == 1
      map(&procs.first)
    else
      map do |thing|
        procs.map { |proc| proc.call(thing) }
      end
    end
  end
end

It's just icing on the cake considering Ruby's convenient block syntax, but there it is. Do with it what you will. You can change or extend any of these to support drilling down into hashes quite easily too.

Update #1: Fixed a potential performance issue in Enumerable#to_proc by saving the results of to_proc in @procs.