#
# Convert a String into an Array of individual characters.
#
# In Ruby, String already behaves as a sequence of characters.
# However, some APIs or algorithms may require an explicit Array
# containing each character as a separate element.
#
# Converts a string to an array of characters.
#
# @param text [String] The source string.
# @return [Array<String>] An array containing one character per element.
#
# Implementation notes:
# - String#chars is the idiomatic Ruby way to split a string into
# individual characters.
# - Ruby handles Unicode correctly, so multi-byte characters are
# returned as expected.
#
def string_to_char_array(text)
raise ArgumentError, 'text must be a String' unless text.is_a?(String)
text.chars
end
#
# Program entry point.
#
def main
text = 'Hello, World!'
characters = string_to_char_array(text)
puts "Original string: #{text}"
puts
puts 'Character array contents:'
characters.each_with_index do |character, index|
puts "characters[#{index}] = '#{character}'"
end
end
main
# run:
#
# Original string: Hello, World!
#
# Character array contents:
# characters[0] = 'H'
# characters[1] = 'e'
# characters[2] = 'l'
# characters[3] = 'l'
# characters[4] = 'o'
# characters[5] = ','
# characters[6] = ' '
# characters[7] = 'W'
# characters[8] = 'o'
# characters[9] = 'r'
# characters[10] = 'l'
# characters[11] = 'd'
# characters[12] = '!'
#
