Ruby programmatically calling method with a variable number of arguments

Question

I am trying to do something similar to this:

def foo(mode= :serial)

  if (mode == :serial) then
    self.send(:bar, "one_type")
  else
    self.send(:bar,"second_type",:T5)
  end
end

Obviously, I can print it as follows.

But I recently tried expanding it to include a second function like this:

def foo(mode= :serial)

  if (mode == :serial) then
    self.send(:bar, "one_type")
    self.send(:foobar, "one_type",20)
  else
    self.send(:bar,"second_type",:T5)
    self.send(:foobar, "one_type",20,:T5)
  end
end

I can still continue, but I thought to myself: there is a template here, I have to abstract the arguments to another level and make it easier.

So what I wanted to do was something like this:

arg_arr   = [:bar, "one_type"]
arg_arr_2 = [:foobar, "one_type", 20]
if (mode == :serial) then
  self.send(arg_arr)
  self.send(arg_arr_2)
else
  arg_arr << :T5
  arg_arr2 << :T5
  self.send(arg_arr)
  self.send(arg_arr2 )
end

I tried some other ideas related to .each, .inspect, but nothing that could work (a common error could not convert the array to a string, which, I think, refers to the fact that it treats the array as the whole function name). I can do this if I explicitly say "use array elements [0], [1] etc., but it just seems wasteful.

, ?

Answer 1

def foo(a, b)
  puts a
  puts b
end

array = ['bar', 'qux']
send(:foo, *array) # using send
foo(*array) # using the method name

bar
qux

splat * .

Answer 2

, . , . . splat.

.

irb:

def test(*args)
  puts args.inspect
end

my_args = [1, 2, 3]
self.send(:test, *my_args)
# [1, 2, 3]
# => nil

, :

self.send(:test, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd')
# ["a", "b", "c", "d"]
# => nil

, :

def test(arg1, arg2, arg3)
  puts arg1.inspect
  puts arg2.inspect
  puts arg3.inspect
end

my_args = [1, 2, 3]
self.send(:test, *my_args)
# 1
# 2
# 3
# => nil

Answer 3

-, send. public_send, Method#call bar(...), .

(, ), :

def analyze_array(array)
  puts "Elements : #{array}"
  puts "Length   : #{array.size}"
  puts "Sum      : #{array.inject(:+)}"
  puts
end

analyze_array([1,2,3])
analyze_array([1,2,3,4,5])

:

Elements : [1, 2, 3]
Length   : 3
Sum      : 6

Elements : [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Length   : 5
Sum      : 15

, :

arg_arr   = [:bar, 1]
arg_arr_2 = [:foobar, 1, 2]

def bar(array)
  puts "  bar with one parameter : #{array}"
end

def foobar(array)
  puts "  foobar with one parameter : #{array}"
end

[:serial, :parallel].each do |mode|
  puts "Mode : #{mode}"
  [arg_arr, arg_arr_2].each do |method_and_args|
    method_name, *args = method_and_args
    args << 3 if mode != :serial
    method(method_name).call(args)
  end
end

:

Mode : serial
  bar with one parameter : [1]
  foobar with one parameter : [1, 2]
Mode : parallel
  bar with one parameter : [1, 3]
  foobar with one parameter : [1, 2, 3]

, , splat ():

def analyze_parameters(*params)
  puts "Parameters : #{params}"
  puts "Number     : #{params.size}"
  puts "Classes    : #{params.map(&:class)}"
end

analyze_parameters('Test')
analyze_parameters(1, 'a', :b, [:c, :d])

:

Parameters : ["Test"]
Number     : 1
Classes    : [String]

Parameters : [1, "a", :b, [:c, :d]]
Number     : 4
Classes    : [Fixnum, String, Symbol, Array]

:

arg_arr   = [:bar, 1 ]
arg_arr_2 = [:foobar, 1, 'a']

def bar(*params)
  puts "  bar with multiple parameters : #{params}"
end

def foobar(*params)
  puts "  foobar with multiple parameters : #{params}"
end

[:serial, :parallel].each do |mode|
  puts "Mode : #{mode}"
  [arg_arr, arg_arr_2].each do |method_and_args|
    method_name, *args = method_and_args
    args << :b if mode != :serial
    method(method_name).call(*args)
  end
end

:

Mode : serial
  bar with multiple parameters : [1]
  foobar with multiple parameters : [1, "a"]
Mode : parallel
  bar with multiple parameters : [1, :b]
  foobar with multiple parameters : [1, "a", :b]