Redacting one array with modified instances of another - arrays

Question

Hello I have a problem that I am trying to solve.
Define a method called clean_slate that will take a String representing a record and another String representing a name as arguments. The method returns a string representing the original record, but with every instance of the name replaced with twice as many X's as the name contains characters. If a full name is passed, it will also replace instances where only the first or last name is used with as many X's as the full name contains characters. Your method should not be case sensitive. Assume that the inputs will always be a String. Return the original record if the name isn't found.
So far I have:
def clean_slate(record, name)
name = name.downcase
split_name = name.downcase.split(" ") #array
change_name = split_name.map do |letter|
letter = "X" * 2 * name.length
end
record_words = record.downcase.split(" ") #array
new_record = record_words.map do |word|
if word.include?(split_name[0] || split_name[1])
word = change_name
else
word
end
end
new_record.join(" ")
end
clean_slate("Megan Fox is a talented actress. megan knows sulfoxide is a chemical compound containing a sulfinyl (SO) functional group attached to two carbon atoms. It is a polar functional group. Ms. fox has many talents.", "Megan Fox")
I am returning the record but I am not getting the last name in the record redacted. Does anyone have any idea how I can fix that?
"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX fox is a talented actress. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX knows sulfoxide is a chemical compound containing a sulfinyl (so) functional group attached to two carbon atoms. it is a polar functional group. ms. fox has many talents."

Answer 1

Within your record.split.map you need to check if the record.downcase being passed include the first or last value for split, but at the same time to check if the word in the block is equal to any of those two, so it would be something like:
new_record = record.split.map do |word|
if record.downcase.include?(split_name[0] || split_name[1]) &&
word.downcase == split_name[0] || word.downcase == split_name[1]
...
Also if you use map over split_name to assign the amount of X, it'll return an array, and when you do word = change_name, it takes the value inside an array, as ['XXXXX'] (e.g), so you need to access the only one value inside:
word = change_name.first
As it's not needed to initialize a variable not being used inside the block, then just change_name.first.
This way, this works:
def clean_slate(record, name)
name = name.downcase
split_name = name.downcase.split(" ")
change_name = split_name.map do |letter|
letter = 'X' * 2 * name.length
end
new_record = record.split.map do |word|
if record.downcase.include?(split_name[0] || split_name[1]) &&
word.downcase == split_name[0] || word.downcase == split_name[1]
change_name.first
else
word
end
end
new_record.join(" ")
end
But it has some things you can improve:
split(" ") can be shortened as split
letter = 'X' * 2 * name.length can be 'XX' * name.length and
change_name = 'XX' * name.length no need to use map, so
change_name.first changes to change_name
join(" ") prefer single quotes instead double ones
You need a way to simplify the if statement inside the record.map and still you don't know if the name will be only two words to use [0] and [-1].
You could take a look to String#gsub.
def clean_slate(record, name)
record.gsub(/\b#{name.split.join('|')}\b/i, 'XX' * name.size)
end

Answer 2

Here's a cleaner way to implement this. Just compare each word in record to name and substitute the Xs.
def clean_slate record, name
names = name.downcase.split
new_record = []
record.split.each do |word|
new_record << word
if names.include?(word.downcase)
new_record[-1] = "X" * 2 * name.length
end
end
new_record.join(' ')
end
Result:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX is a talented actress. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX knows sulfoxide is a chemical compound containing a sulfinyl (SO) functional group attached to two carbon atoms. It is a polar functional group. Ms. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX has many talents.

Answer 3

If I understand your task right, I think you can do solution similar to it:
def clean_slate(record, name)
name = name.split.map(&:downcase)
record = record.split
record.map do |word|
if name.include? word.downcase
word = 'X' * 2 * name.join.length
else
word
end
end.join(' ')
end
#> clean_slate("Megan Fox is a talented actress. megan knows sulfoxide is a chemical compound containing a sulfinyl (SO) functional group attached to two carbon atoms. It is a polar functional group. Ms. fox has many talents.", "Megan Fox")
#=> "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX is a talented actress. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX knows sulfoxide is a chemical compound containing a sulfinyl (SO) functional group attached to two carbon atoms. It is a polar functional group. Ms. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX has many talents."