Split String into roughly equal-sized chunks.

duncanbeevers (Duncan Beevers) — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:29:28 GMT

Split a string into an array of roughly equal sized chunks based on a string or regular expression delimiter.
Delimiter is preserved in output.



class String

  def chunk_string(average_segment_size = 40, sclice_on = /\s+/)

    out = []

    slices_estimate = self.size.divmod(average_segment_size)

    slice_count = (slices_estimate[1] > 0 ? slices_estimate[0] + 1 : slices_estimate[0])

    slice_guess = self.size / slice_count

    previous_slice_location = 0

    (1..slice_count - 1).each do

      |i|

      slice_location = self.nearest_split(slice_guess * i, sclice_on)

      out << self.slice(previous_slice_location..slice_location)

      previous_slice_location = slice_location + 1

    end

    out << self.slice(previous_slice_location..self.size)

    out

  end



  def nearest_split(slice_start, slice_on)

    left_scan_location  = (self.slice(0..slice_start).rindex(slice_on)).to_i

    right_scan_location = (self.slice((slice_start+1)..self.size).index(slice_on)).to_i + slice_start

    ((slice_start - left_scan_location) < (right_scan_location - slice_start) ? left_scan_location : right_scan_location)

  end

end

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Split String into roughly equal-sized chunks.