collect() public

Invokes block once for each element of self. Creates a new array containing the values returned by the block. See also Enumerable#collect. 

   a = [ "a", "b", "c", "d" ]
   a.collect {|x| x + "!" }   #=> ["a!", "b!", "c!", "d!"]
   a                          #=> ["a", "b", "c", "d"]
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April 23, 2009
5 thanks

Handy shorthand for array manipulation

You may write something like this:

>> ['a', 'b', 'c'].collect{|letter| letter.capitalize}
=> ["A", "B", "C"]

But it looks so much nicer this way:

>> ['a', 'b', 'c'].collect(&:capitalize)
=> ["A", "B", "C"]
August 20, 2009
4 thanks

Symbol#to_proc

@tadman - or simply defining:

class Symbol
  def to_proc
    proc { |obj, *args| obj.send(self, *args) }
  end
end
March 18, 2010
3 thanks

collect_with_index

Use Object#enum_for if you need to collect with index:

require 'enumerator'

['a', 'b', 'c'].enum_for(:each_with_index).collect do |item, index| 
  "#{index}: #{item}" 
end

See also: Enumerable#each_with_index

April 23, 2009
2 thanks

Rails and Ruby 1.8.7 Extensions

Note that the use of Symbol#to_proc requires either Rails or Ruby 1.8.7. Prior versions will show:

['a', 'b', 'c'].collect(&:capitalize)
 #  => TypeError: wrong argument type Symbol (expected Proc)
June 25, 2010 - (v1_8_6_287 - v1_8_7_72)
0 thanks

Can operate for both key and value for Hash

If you need to process both key and value of the Hash:

>> {"a" => "aa", "b" => "bb", "c" => "cc"}.collect {|k,v| [k,k+v]}
=> [["a", "aaa"], ["b", "bbb"], ["c", "ccc"]]