Add Exclude Values From An Array as a Ruby til

Author: jbranchaud

README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.
 
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-_1041 TILs and counting..._
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@@ -830,6 +830,7 @@ _1041 TILs and counting..._
 - [Encode A String As URL-Safe Base64](ruby/encode-a-string-as-url-safe-base64.md)
 - [Enumerate A Pairing Of Every Two Sequential Items](ruby/enumerate-a-pairing-of-every-two-sequential-items.md)
 - [Evaluating One-Off Commands](ruby/evaluating-one-off-commands.md)
+- [Exclude Values From An Array](ruby/exclude-values-from-an-array.md)
 - [Expect A Method To Be Called And Actually Call It](ruby/expect-a-method-to-be-called-and-actually-call-it.md)
 - [FactoryGirl Sequences](ruby/factory-girl-sequences.md)
 - [Fail](ruby/fail.md)

ruby/exclude-values-from-an-array.md

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+# Exclude Values From An Array
+
+In true Ruby fashion, there are all sorts of ways to exclude values from an
+array.
+
+If you just want to exclude `nil` values, you can use
+[`#compact`](https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.0/Array.html#method-i-compact).
+
+```ruby
+> [1,nil,:what,4].compact
+#=> [1, :what, 4]
+```
+
+If you want to exclude `nil` values and some other named value, you could use
+[`#filter`](https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.0/Array.html#method-i-filter) or
+[`#reject`](https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.0/Array.html#method-i-reject).
+
+```ruby
+> [1,nil,:what,4].filter { |val| !val.nil? && val != :what }
+#=> [1, 4]
+> [1,nil,:what,4].reject { |val| val.nil? || val == :what }
+#=> [1, 4]
+```
+
+The filter is clumsy and heavy-handed for this sort of example. A really terse
+way of doing the same thing is with set difference:
+[`#-`](https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.0/Array.html#method-i-2D).
+
+```ruby
+> [1,nil,:what,nil,5] - [:what,nil]
+#=> [1, 5]
+```
+
+Or the spelled out
+[`#difference`](https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.0/Array.html#method-i-difference)
+method.
+
+```ruby
+> [1,nil,:what,nil,5].difference([:what,nil])
+#=> [1, 5]
+```