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How to troubleshoot unexpected nil values in a Ruby Enumerator when processing large datasets?

👀 Views: 96 đŸ’Ŧ Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-13
ruby csv enumerator debugging

I need help solving I've hit a wall trying to I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here, but After trying multiple solutions online, I still can't figure this out. I'm working with Ruby 3.0 and have a scenario where I use an Enumerator to process a large dataset from a CSV file, but I'm working with unexpected `nil` values during iteration. My code looks something like this: ```ruby require 'csv' def process_data(file_path) data = CSV.foreach(file_path, headers: true).map do |row| yield(row) if block_given? end data end process_data('data.csv') do |row| # Assuming we're processing a 'name' field name = row['name'] puts name unless name.nil? end ``` I've checked the CSV file and there are indeed names in all rows. However, on certain iterations, the `name` variable is returning `nil`, and I need to figure out why that is happening. I also tried adding a debug statement like: ```ruby puts "Row: #{row.inspect}, Name: #{name}" ``` This shows that some rows are returned as `#<CSV::Row...>` but still yield `nil` for the `name` field. I suspect there might be an scenario with how the CSV is being read or perhaps with the formatting of the CSV itself. Additionally, I considered if there are any hidden characters or whitespace in the CSV but couldn't find anything obvious. I also tried using `row.to_h` to convert the CSV row to a hash directly but still faced the same question. Is there a better way to handle this or any debugging tips to figure out why I'm getting these unexpected `nil` values? For context: I'm using Ruby on Ubuntu. What am I doing wrong? For context: I'm using Ruby on Ubuntu. I'm developing on CentOS with Ruby. I'm coming from a different tech stack and learning Ruby. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.