Abbrev

Abbrev is an Array extenstion that calculates the unique abbreviations for the set of Strings contained in the Array. Inspired by Ruby's Abbrev class

How To Use

The simplest way to use the Abbrev class is by calling Array's abbrev() method. For example, ['ruby','rules'].abbrev() would produce the hash:

{
	"rub": "ruby",
	"ruby": "ruby",
	"rul": "rules",
	"rule": "rules",
	"rules": "rules"
}

An Array containing only a single String element will still produce a useful mapping. For example, ['ruby'].abbrev() would produce:

{
	"r": "ruby",
	"ru": "ruby",
	"rub": "ruby",
	"ruby": "ruby"
}

An empty Array produces an empty hash. [].abbrev() produces {}.

Duplicate entries are treated as a single entry. For example, ['a','abc','abc'].abbrev() would produce:

{
	"a": "a",
	"ab": "abc",
	"abc": "abc"
}

Abbrev attempts to coerce non-Strings to Strings. For example, [123,'1234'].abbrev() would produce:

{
	"123": 123,
	"1234": "1234"
}

Other Features

The abbrev() method accepts one optional argument, a pattern that filters abbreviations. Only abbreviations that match the pattern (or begin with the String if a String is provided instead of a RegExp) will be included in the hash output. For example, ['a','abc'].abbrev(/c/) will produce {"abc": "abc"}. Notice how the mapping from "ab" to "abc" is not included because the abbreviation, not the target, must match the pattern.

Additional Info

I am always open for feature requests or any feedback. I can be reached at Github.

Thanks to the Ruby community for the original idea and implementation.