Beginner Ruby if else

Question

I've check to see if the program is recieving number and names and it is. I'm wondering why doesn't it print "fred" when input number is 1?

number = ARGF.read.chomp
names = %w{fred betty barney}
if number == 1
  puts names[0]
elsif number == 2
  puts names[1]
elsif number == 3
  puts name[2]
end

Answer 1

number is likely a string here, but you are comparing it with an integer.

1 == '1' # false

try

number = ARGF.read.chomp.to_i # note the to_i here
names = %w{fred betty barney}
if number == 1
  puts names[0]
elsif number == 2
  puts names[1]
elsif number == 3
  puts names[2]
end

---

Also, you can use a case/when statement when you want to take a different path based on multiple values of a single variable. This is usually the cleaner way to handle this type of flow.

number = ARGF.read.chomp.to_i
names = %w{fred betty barney}

case number
when 1
  puts names[0]
when 2
  puts names[1]
when 3
  puts names[2]
end

---

Or in this case, the even more simple:

number = ARGF.read.chomp.to_i
names = %w{fred betty barney}
puts names[number-1]

should work.

Answer 2

I know you're learning if...else, but keep in mind you can also do this:

number = ARGF.read.chomp.to_i - 1
names = %w{fred betty barney}

puts names[number]