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Times Iteration

2:21 with Jason Seifer

The times iterator will take a number and execute the statements in the block that number of times. The times iterator optionally takes an argument and, just like array indices, starts at 0.

Code Samples

Using a number, we can iterate that amount of times:

5.times do
  puts "Hello!"
end

This will print "Hello!" to the screen 5 times.

The times method also can take a single argument:

5.times do |item|
  puts "Hello! #{item}"
end

Just like an array index, the times index starts at 0.

  • 0:00

    Another kind of iterator in Ruby that works specifically with

  • 0:04

    integers is the times iterator.

  • 0:07

    The times iterator will take a number,

  • 0:10

    execute the statements in the block that number of times.

  • 0:14

    The times iterator, optionally,

  • 0:16

    takes an argument, and, just like array indexes, starts at zero.

  • 0:22

    Let's see how that works now using WorkSpaces.

  • 0:25

    Okay, using a Ruby workspace let's go ahead and create a new file.

  • 0:29

    We'll call this times.rb.

  • 0:31

    The times method is really easy to use.

  • 0:36

    We'll take any number, let's use 5 as an example and

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    use a dot like we're going to call a method and then we use the word times.

  • 0:48

    From there, we write a do end block like we're used to.

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    Now let's just type puts hello.

  • 0:57

    Now we can run this, using ruby times.rb.

  • 1:02

    And we see that it prints hello five times.

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    And we can also send arguments into the times method.

  • 1:16

    Let's create a new file.

  • 1:18

    To test that out, we'll call it times with argument.rb.

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    And we'll write that just like we did the times loop.

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    So here we did five times.

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    Do end.

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    Now just like with other iterators and blocks,

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    if we want to send an argument to the block we do so by writing a pipe and

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    putting the local variable inside of the pipes.

  • 1:50

    The times method can take one argument into the block

  • 1:56

    and we'll go ahead and print that out.

  • 2:02

    And if we run ruby times_with_argument.rb.

  • 2:06

    We can see, we get all of these different arguments as the item and

  • 2:11

    it starts with zero just like array indexes.

  • 2:16

    Try practicing with the times iterator on your own now, using WorkSpaces.

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