[{:s, 1, :xl, 4}] is returned to me. i want to only return {:s, 1, :xl, 4}. how to? in ruby

If you want to return only the first element of the array [{:s, 1, :xl, 4}], you can use the indexer operator [0] to access it. Here's an example:

main.rb
arr = [{:s, 1, :xl, 4}]
result = arr[0]
puts result.inspect
60 chars
4 lines

The output will be:

main.rb
{:s, 1, :xl, 4}
16 chars
2 lines

By using arr[0], we access the first element of the array and assign it to the result variable. Finally, we use puts result.inspect to print the value of result.

If you want to modify the original array and remove all other elements, you can use the slice! method:

main.rb
arr = [{:s, 1, :xl, 4}]
result = arr.slice!(0)
puts result.inspect
puts arr.inspect
84 chars
5 lines

This will output:

main.rb
{:s, 1, :xl, 4}
[]
19 chars
3 lines

The slice! method removes and returns the element at index 0 from arr, modifying it in place. The result variable will hold the removed element, and arr will be an empty array.