CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyregex
chell
chell

Reputation: 7866

regex to replace characters and then remove spaces and hyphens for a url

I want to format the names of manufacturers to use in the url.

Example: IN-X / P.S.M. International

I wrote a helper method as follows

def clean_name(name)
      fn = name.gsub(/[.\/,&()]/, '') #replace these characters with nothing
      fnn=fn.strip.gsub(/[\s]/,'-')   #replace the spaces between the words with hyphens
      fnnn = fnn.gsub(/--/,'-')       #replace double hyphens with single ones
end

I know there must be a better way to do this than I have above. Any more experienced programmers have some ideas?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2241

Answers (2)

Mark Thomas
Mark Thomas

Reputation: 37507

If you're using Rails, you can simply do:

string.parameterize

This comes from ActiveSupport::Inflector. For even more sophisticated slugging, see ActsAsUrl. It can do the following:

"rock & roll".to_url => "rock-and-roll"
"$12 worth of Ruby power".to_url => "12-dollars-worth-of-ruby-power"
"10% off if you act now".to_url => "10-percent-off-if-you-act-now"
"kick it en Français".to_url => "kick-it-en-francais"
"rock it Español style".to_url => "rock-it-espanol-style"
"tell your readers 你好".to_url => "tell-your-readers-ni-hao"

There are several other options listed in the Permalinks and Slugs category in Ruby Toolbox.

Upvotes: 6

moritz
moritz

Reputation: 25757

How about this:

def clean_name(name)
  name.gsub(/[.\/,&()]/, '').gsub(/[\s\-]+/, '-')
end

Upvotes: 0

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