Ruby switch statement with strings

Question

For some reason this switch statement isn't behaving as I expected:

aString = "DATE MODIFIED" case aString when "DATE MODIFIED" => Never gets here end

But this works

aString = "DATE" case aString when "DATE" => Does get here end

Can anyone explain why, and provide a way to use strings with spaces inside a switch?

Thanks

I can't duplicate the behavior you're asking about. I took your code, filled out the when-clause and ran it and it worked fine. Can you post some actual, runnable code that demonstrates the problem? — Chuck
– Chuck, Commented Sep 19, 2011 at 8:05

knut · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-19 09:51:11Z

Like Chuck mentioned in his comment, I can't duplicate the behavior you're asking about.

One possible reason for errors like this: One or more spaces between DATE and MODIFIED.

Solution: Check with an regular expression:

[ "DATE MODIFIED", "DATE MODIFIED", #2 spaces ].each{|aString| print "Check #{aString}: " case aString when "DATE MODIFIED" puts "Exact hit with one space" #without \A/\Z the string could be part of a longer String when /\ADATE\s+MODIFIED\Z/ puts "hit with one or more spaces" end }

Another often made error: The String is read from stdin and includes a newline. Solution: Use a regex or check with String#chomp (or String#split if you want to ignore leading and trailing spaces)

Thanks knut! I swear I checked that double space but the application begs to differ =( Thanks for your time

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