How can I select the longest string from a Ruby array?

Question

However above [duplicate suggestion] is for multidimensional array, not targeting the simpler case I am posing here.

For example if I have:

'one','two','three','four','five'

I want to select three as it is the longest string. I tried:

['one','two','three','four','five'].select{|char_num| char_num.size.max} 

but Enumerable#max doesn't return the right result.

Hazy

you have 356 votes in ruby tag, at the time of writing – Sheffield

@emaillenin what a totally uninteresting number – Tabor

possible duplicate of Find longest string in a array? – Runthrough

@Monk, if you still have your benchmark code, I'd be interested to know how b = ar.map(&:size); ar[b.index(b.max)] compares with ar.max_by(&:size). – Slumber

@CarySwoveland Monk provided.. But then he deleted.. But I can see it still, you don't :-) – Hellbender

No, I cannot see it, @Arup. You must have excellent vision, as I have 20/20. – Slumber

@CarySwoveland Actually. I am really able to see it. after 5,000 rep, you can see deleted answer too.. So I am able to see it. – Hellbender

Answer 1

Just do as below using Enumerable#max_by :

ar = ['one','two','three','four','five']
ar.max_by(&:length) # => "three"

Hellbender

Can I use bytesize vs length judging by the tests it is faster? – Runthrough

Answer 2

arr.map(&:length).max     -

Coffle

Please consider expanding on your answer. – Luralurch

@johnson did you understand the question what the OP asked? – Hellbender

Answer 3

You can also use:

['one','two','three','four','five'].inject { |f, s| f.length > s.length ? f : s }

Microbe

Answer 4

I came up with this idea :

x = ""
['one','two','three','four','five'].each do |word|
   if word.length >= x.length
      x = word
   end
end

puts x

Googins