Metadata

ID: ruby-best-practices/string-chars

Language: Ruby

Severity: Notice

Category: Best Practices

Description

This rule is about preferring the use of the chars method over splitting a string with an empty string in Ruby. The chars method is a more idiomatic and efficient way to access the individual characters of a string in Ruby. Using string.split('') or string.split(//) to achieve this is less efficient and can lead to confusion, as the split method is typically used to divide a string into substrings based on a delimiter.

The importance of this rule lies in writing clear, efficient, and idiomatic Ruby code. When you use the chars method to access individual characters, your intent is clear to other developers who read your code. Additionally, the chars method is more efficient than split('') or split(//), which can make a difference in performance when dealing with large strings.

To adhere to this rule and practice good coding, use the chars method whenever you need to access the individual characters of a string. For example, instead of string.split(''), use string.chars. If you need to split a string into substrings based on a delimiter, continue to use the split method with the appropriate delimiter, such as string.split(' ') to split on spaces. By doing so, your code will be more readable, efficient, and idiomatic.

Non-Compliant Code Examples

string.split(//)
string.split('')
string.split("")

Compliant Code Examples

string.chars
string.split("hello world")
string.split("hello world", " ")