array_unique

• We can find the unique elements of an array in Ruby using Array#uniq.

  PHP

  $fruit = array('apple', 'kiwi', 'apple', 'apple', 'lime');
  $result = array_unique($fruit);
  var_export($result);
  // = array(0 => 'apple', 1 => 'kiwi', 4 => 'lime')

  Ruby

  fruit = ["apple", "kiwi", "apple", "apple", "lime"]
  p fruit.uniq
  # => ["apple", "kiwi", "lime"]

  One thing to note is that while PHP does not factor data type in to the uniqueness of the elements, Ruby does. A Fixnum 1 is different than a String "1" in Ruby.

  PHP

  $input = array(1, 2, '1', '2');
  $result = array_unique($input);
  var_export($result);
  // => array(0 => 1, 1 => 2)

  Ruby

  input = [1, 2, "1", "2"]
  p input.uniq
  # => [1, 2, "1", "2"]

  We can emulate the PHP behavior by converting the data in the array to a common type before using the uniq method.

  Ruby

  input = [1, 2, "1", "2"]
  p input.collect {|val| val.to_s }.uniq
  # => ["1", "2"]

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