Converting Integer to an Array of Digits in Ruby

In Ruby, you can convert an integer to an array of digits in the following ways:

Converting Numeric String to Array of Characters;
Reducing to Single Digit;
Using Regular Expression.

Converting Numeric String to Array of Characters

If you are certain that the integer is always going to be positive, then you can simply do the following:

Convert integer to numeric string;
Convert numeric string to an array of characters (using String#chars);
Use Array#map to convert each array item to an integer.

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: convert integer to string
    # 2: convert numeric string to array of chars
    # 3: convert each numeric string character to integer
    num.to_s.chars.map(&:to_i)
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(0) #=> [0]

However, if the integer can also be negative, then the following are some ways in which you can handle the negative sign (-) when converting an integer to an array of digits:

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative;
Add the Minus Sign as a String;
Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign.

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative:

Making the most significant digit negative means that in the resulting array, if the original number is negative, the first digit will have the negative sign. This means that:

# 12345 becomes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes [-1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: convert integer in absolute form to string
    # 2: convert string to array of numeric string chars
    # 3: convert numeric string chars to integers
    digits = num.abs.to_s.chars.map(&:to_i)
    # 4: make first digit negative if original number is negative
    digits[0] = num < 0 ? -digits[0] : digits[0]

    digits
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> [-1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0]

Add the Minus Sign as a String:

Adding the minus sign (-) as a string means that in the resulting array, if the original number is negative, the first element of the array will have the minus sign as a string:

# 12345 becomes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes ['-', 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: convert integer to string
    # 2: convert numeric string to array of chars
    digits = num.to_s.chars
    # 3: convert each numeric string character to integer
    digits.map { | curr_num |
        # 4: add '-' as is, if present
        (curr_num == "-") ? "-" : curr_num.to_i
    }
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> ["-", 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0]

Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign

Adding a leading digit to represent the sign means that in the resulting array, the first element can be used to represent the sign (i.e. 0 for positive integers and 1 for negative integers):

# 12345 becomes [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: convert integer in absolute form to string
    # 2: convert numeric string to array of chars
    # 3: convert each numeric string character to integer
    digits = num.abs.to_s.chars.map(&:to_i)

    # 4: add 0 or 1 as first element in array
    digits.unshift(num < 0 ? 1 : 0)

    digits
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0, 0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0, 0]

Reducing to Single Digit

If you are certain that the integer is always going to be positive, then you can simply do the following:

Create a loop;
Add the last digit (i.e. remainder of x % 10) as the first element to a new array;
Remove the last digit from the integer in each iteration till there are no digits left.

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    digits = []

    # 1: create a loop
    loop do
        # 2: add last digit as first element in new array
        digits.unshift(num % 10)
        # 3: remove last digit from integer
        num /= 10

        # ...till there are no digits left
        if num == 0
          break
        end
    end

    digits
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(0) #=> [0]

However, if the integer can also be negative, then you can handle the negative sign (-) in the following ways:

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative;
Add the Minus Sign as a String;
Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign.

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative:

Making the most significant digit negative means that in the resulting array, if the original number is negative, the first digit will have the negative sign. This means that:

# 12345 becomes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes [-1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: convert integer to absolute form
    abs_num = num.abs
    digits = []

    # 2: create a loop
    loop do
        # 3: add last digit as first element in new array
        digits.unshift(abs_num % 10)
        # 4: remove last digit from integer
        abs_num /= 10

        # ...till there are no digits left
        if abs_num == 0
          break
        end
    end

    # 5: make first digit negative if original number is negative
    if num < 0
        digits[0] = -digits[0]
    end

    digits
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> [-1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0, 0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0, 0]

Add the Minus Sign as a String:

Adding the minus sign (-) as a string means that in the resulting array, if the original number is negative, the first element of the array will have the minus sign as a string:

# 12345 becomes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes ['-', 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: convert integer to absolute form
    abs_num = num.abs
    digits = []

    # 2: create a loop
    loop do
        # 3: add last digit as first element in new array
        digits.unshift(abs_num % 10)
        # 4: remove last digit from integer
        abs_num /= 10

        # ...till there are no digits left
        if abs_num == 0
          break
        end
    end

    # 5: add '-' to front of array
    if num < 0
        digits.unshift("-")
    end

    digits
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> ["-", 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0, 0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0, 0]

Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign:

Adding a leading digit to represent the sign means that in the resulting array, the first element can be used to represent the sign (i.e. 0 for positive integers and 1 for negative integers):

# 12345 becomes [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: convert integer to absolute form
    abs_num = num.abs
    digits = []

    # 2: create a loop
    loop do
        # 3: add last digit as first element in new array
        digits.unshift(abs_num % 10)
        # 4: remove last digit from integer
        abs_num /= 10

        # ...till there are no digits left
        if abs_num == 0
          break
        end
    end

    # 5: add 0 or 1 as first element in array
    leading_digit = (num < 0) ? 1 : 0
    digits.unshift(leading_digit)

    digits
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0, 0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0, 0]

Using Regular Expression

If you are certain that the integer is always going to be positive, then you can simply do the following:

Use String#match with a regular expression to convert numeric string to an array of numeric string characters;
Use Array#map to convert each array item to an integer.

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: use regex to match numbers
    # 2: convert each item to an integer
    num.to_s.to_enum(:scan, /\d/).map(&:to_i)
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(0) #=> [0]

However, if the integer can also be negative, then you can handle the negative sign (-) in the following ways:

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative;
Add the Minus Sign as a String;
Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign.

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative:

Making the most significant digit negative means that in the resulting array, if the original number is negative, the first digit will have the negative sign:

# 12345 becomes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes [-1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: use regex to match '-' (optionally) and numbers
    # 2: convert each item to an integer
    num.to_s.to_enum(:scan, /-?\d/).map(&:to_i)
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> [-1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0]

Add the Minus Sign as a String:

Adding the minus sign (-) as a string means that in the resulting array, if the original number is negative, the first element of the array will have the minus sign as a string:

# 12345 becomes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes ['-', 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: use regex to match numbers
    # 2: convert each item to an integer
    matches = num.to_s.to_enum(:scan, /\d/).map(&:to_i)

    # 3: add '-' to the front of array
    if num < 0
        matches.unshift("-")
    end

    matches
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> ["-", 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0, 0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0, 0]

Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign:

Adding a leading digit to represent the sign means that in the resulting array, the first element can be used to represent the sign (i.e. 0 for positive integers and 1 for negative integers):

# 12345 becomes [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# -12345 becomes [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For example, this can be implemented like so:

def num_to_array(num)
    # 1: use regex to match numbers
    # 2: convert each item to an integer
    matches = num.to_s.to_enum(:scan, /\d/).map(&:to_i)
    # 3: add 0 or 1 as first element in array
    matches.unshift(num < 0 ? 1 : 0)

    matches
end

print num_to_array(12345) #=> [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print num_to_array(-12345) #=> [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print num_to_array(0) #=> [0, 0]
print num_to_array(-0) #=> [0, 0]

This post was published 06 Jan, 2023 by Daniyal Hamid. Daniyal currently works as the Head of Engineering in Germany and has 20+ years of experience in software engineering, design and marketing. Please show your love and support by sharing this post.

How to Convert an Integer to an Array of Digits in Ruby?

Converting Numeric String to Array of Characters

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative:

Add the Minus Sign as a String:

Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign

Reducing to Single Digit

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative:

Add the Minus Sign as a String:

Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign:

Using Regular Expression

Make the Most Significant Digit Negative:

Add the Minus Sign as a String:

Add a Leading Digit to Represent the Sign: