Ruby grep - searching an array for parts of a string
Solution 1
Try:
mailbox_array.grep(/Sent/)
The ^ means search from the start of the line.
Solution 2
The special regex character ^
matches only the beginning of the string so perhaps you want to match a word boundary (\b
) instead. Try this:
mailbox_array.grep(/\bSent\b/)
krapdagn
Updated on June 04, 2022Comments
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krapdagn almost 2 years
I'm new to Ruby and a bit confused by the grep command in this block of code. I'm trying to gather all the mailbox names via Net::IMAP and then check them against a mailbox argument. Likely the mailbox name will only include part of the argument. For example, someone may type in "Sent" as the mailbox, but many times the mailbox name will be "INBOX.Sent."
class ExamineMail def initialize(user, domain, pass, box) @username = user @domain = domain @pass = pass @mailbox = box end def login() @imap = Net::IMAP.new("mail." + @domain) @imap.authenticate('LOGIN', @username + "@" + @domain, @pass) mailbox_array = @imap.list('','*').collect{ |mailbox| mailbox.name } #mailbox_array.any? { |w| @mailbox =~ /#{w}/ } mailbox_array.grep(/^@mailbox/) end end
So, first I tried .any? but that doesn't return me the name of the actual mailbox. With
.grep
, I'm able to get a list of the mailboxes when@mailbox = "INBOX"
. However, when@mailbox = "Sent"
it just returns[]
.Here is an example of one that works (using "INBOX") and one that doesn't (using "Sent"):
#Get the list of inboxes mailbox_array = imap.list('','*').collect{ |mailbox| mailbox.name } => ["INBOX", "INBOX.Trash", "INBOX.Sent", "INBOX.Sent Messages", "INBOX.Junk", "INBOX.Drafts", "INBOX.Deleted Messages", "INBOX.Apple Mail To Do"] #Search for mailboxes including "Sent" >> mailbox_array.grep(/^Sent/) => [] #Search for "INBOX" >> mailbox_array.grep(/^INBOX/) => ["INBOX", "INBOX.Trash", "INBOX.Sent", "INBOX.Sent Messages", "INBOX.Junk", "INBOX.Drafts", "INBOX.Deleted Messages", "INBOX.Apple Mail To Do"]
I think the problem is that "INBOX" is at the beginning of the strings in the array, but "Sent" is in the middle and is after a period. Not sure how to fix.
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krapdagn about 12 yearsWoohoo! I will need to study these regular expressions more :). Thank you so much.
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maerics about 12 years@krapdagn: yup, although this would also match strings like "Sentiments" and "MySentMail", which you may or may not want.
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krapdagn about 12 yearsOK - one more question, sorry. When mailbox = "Sent Messages" for example, it returns []. I think this is because of the double quotes. How to manipulate mailbox so that it fits in the grep(/mailbox/) without "" around it?
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krapdagn about 12 yearsAh - figured it out: grep(/#{@mailbox}/)
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sj26 almost 12 yearsWorth noting that
^
in ruby will match the beginning of any line.\A
will match the absolute beginning of the input. (Same with$
/\Z
.)