Can I override `.` to point at an index for an array?

Question

.<digit> means to interpret the number as a float instead of an integer.

Can I override .<digit> to let it point the index in an array so that the following will work?

c = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
c.0 # => 1
c.3 # => 4

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

2

No. A method name can't begin with a number in Ruby. More about Ruby method names restrictions here.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

Community

1
1

answered May 06 '16 at 08:35

Ilya

13,337
5
37
53

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 06 '16 at 08:37

2

No you can't. That is part of the literal expression for floats. It is not a method call. It is not done at Ruby syntax level.

answered May 06 '16 at 08:37

sawa

165,429
45
277
381

AlexN · Answer 3 · 2016-06-24T05:53:21.400

0

As the other answers already told, it is not possible to override the number as method, but you can use parenthesis for an empty method.

class Array
  def method_missing(m ,*args, &block)
    # m will be 'call'
    self[args[0]] if args[0].is_a?(Fixnum)
  end
end


irb(main):009:0> [1,2,3,4,5].(0)
=> 1
irb(main):010:0> [1,2,3,4,5].(2)
=> 3

edited Jun 24 '16 at 05:53

answered May 06 '16 at 08:43

AlexN

1,613
8
21

4

You can do it better like: `class Array; alias call []; end`. – sawa May 06 '16 at 08:47

Can I override `.` to point at an index for an array?

3 Answers3

Linked