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instance method

Enumerable#max_by

enum.max_by {|obj| block } → obj

enum.max_by → an_enumerator

enum.max_by(n) {|obj| block } → obj

enum.max_by(n) → an_enumerator

static VALUE
enum_max_by(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE obj)
{
    struct MEMO *memo;
    VALUE num;

    rb_check_arity(argc, 0, 1);

    RETURN_SIZED_ENUMERATOR(obj, argc, argv, enum_size);

    if (argc && !NIL_P(num = argv[0]))
        return rb_nmin_run(obj, num, 1, 1, 0);

    memo = MEMO_NEW(Qundef, Qnil, 0);
    rb_block_call(obj, id_each, 0, 0, max_by_i, (VALUE)memo);
    return memo->v2;
}

Returns the object in enum that gives the maximum value from the given block.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

Example

a = %w(albatross dog horse)
a.max_by { |x| x.length }   #=> "albatross"

If the n argument is given, maximum n elements are returned as an array. These n elements are sorted by the value from the given block, in descending order.

Example

a = %w[albatross dog horse]
a.max_by(2) {|x| x.length } #=> ["albatross", "horse"]

enum.max_by(n) can be used to implement weighted random sampling. Following example implements and use Enumerable#wsample.

Example

module Enumerable
  # weighted random sampling.
  #
  # Pavlos S. Efraimidis, Paul G. Spirakis
  # Weighted random sampling with a reservoir
  # Information Processing Letters
  # Volume 97, Issue 5 (16 March 2006)
  def wsample(n)
    self.max_by(n) {|v| rand ** (1.0/yield(v)) }
  end
end
e = (-20..20).to_a*10000
a = e.wsample(20000) {|x|
  Math.exp(-(x/5.0)**2) # normal distribution
}
# a is 20000 samples from e.
p a.length #=> 20000
h = a.group_by {|x| x }
-10.upto(10) {|x| puts "*" * (h[x].length/30.0).to_i if h[x] }
#=> *
#   ***
#   ******
#   ***********
#   ******************
#   *****************************
#   *****************************************
#   ****************************************************
#   ***************************************************************
#   ********************************************************************
#   ***********************************************************************
#   ***********************************************************************
#   **************************************************************
#   ****************************************************
#   ***************************************
#   ***************************
#   ******************
#   ***********
#   *******
#   ***
#   *

See also #max #member? #map #min also in 4.1 · 4.0 · 3.4 · 3.3 · 3.2 · 3.1

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