Ruby 2D Array Examples

Use 2D arrays and jagged arrays. Nest arrays and access subarrays.

2D array. Often data is two-dimensional. We need to access cells by rows and columns. With the Array in Ruby, we can nest Arrays, creating 2D arrays.

With nested iterators, we loop over elements. And with built-in methods like flatten() we can transform nested arrays into 1-dimensional ones.

First example. Here we use an Array initialization statement to create a 2D array in one line. We then use the each iterator to loop over rows.

Finally: We invoke the each iterator to process the individual cells in the nested arrays.

Ruby program that uses 2D array # This 2D array contains two sub-arrays. values = Array[[10, 20, 30], [40, 50, 60]] # Loop over each row array. values.each do |x| # Loop over each cell in the row. x.each do |cell| puts cell end # End of row. puts "--" end Output 10 20 30 -- 40 50 60 --

Push. Here we create nested Arrays with push method calls. We create an empty Array and then create a subarray. We add three elements to it with push().

Lookup: We can look up the element in a 2D array by accessing first the row and then the column of the cell.

Ruby program that uses 2D array, push values = [] # Create first row. subarray = [] subarray.push(1) subarray.push(2) subarray.push(3) # Add first row. values.push(subarray) # Create second row. subarray = [] subarray.push(10) subarray.push(20) subarray.push(30) # Add second row. values.push(subarray) # Load an element. puts "Third element in first row is: " << String(values[0][2]) # Change this element. values[1][1] = 500 # Display all elements. values.each do |x| x.each do |y| puts y end puts "--" end Output Third element in first row is: 3 1 2 3 -- 10 500 30 --

Indexes. Next we show how to access each cell in a 2D array by indexes. We use the each_index iterator on rows, and then call it again on each row.

Coordinates: We then access each cell value using the two coordinates from the iterators.

Tip: This style of code also handles uneven, jagged arrays—we get a different maximum row index for each row.

Ruby program that uses each_index # This is an irregular 2D array (a jagged array). values = [["A", "B", "C"], ["D", "E", "F"], ["G", "H"]] # Loop over indexes. values.each_index do |i| # Get subarray and loop over its indexes also. subarray = values[i] subarray.each_index do |x| # Display the cell. puts String(i) << " " << String(x) << "... " << values[i][x] end end Output 0 0... A 0 1... B 0 2... C 1 0... D 1 1... E 1 2... F 2 0... G 2 1... H

Flatten. A 2D array has depth. A flat array is one-dimensional. With flatten, and "flatten!" we convert a multidimensional array into a flat one.

Tip: This method works recursively. Even heavily nested arrays (3-dimensional, 4-dimensional ones) are flattened.

Ruby program that uses flatten method gems = [["ruby", 10], ["sapphire", 20]] p gems # Call flatten to change a 2D array into one dimension. gems.flatten! p gems Output [["ruby", 10], ["sapphire", 20]] ["ruby", 10, "sapphire", 20]

A summary. In Ruby we compose two-dimensional arrays by nesting Arrays. This also gives us the ability to create jagged (uneven) arrays.

Features. With each and each_index, we iterate over nested collections. With flatten, we have a method that changes nested arrays into linear ones.

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Ruby 2D Array Examples

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