A tuple is a fixed-size, immutable, stack-allocated sequence of values of possibly different types.
You can think of a Tuple as an immutable Array whose types for each position are known at compile time.
A tuple can be created with the usual .new method or with a tuple literal:
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'} # Tuple(Int32, String, Char)
tuple[0] # => 1
tuple[1] # => "hello"
tuple[2] # => 'x' See Tuple literals in the language reference.
The compiler knows what types are in each position, so when indexing a tuple with an integer literal the compiler will return the value in that index and with the expected type, like in the above snippet. Indexing with an integer literal outside the bounds of the tuple will give a compile-time error.
Indexing with an integer value that is only known at runtime will return a value whose type is the union of all the types in the tuple, and might raise IndexError.
Indexing with #[]? does not make the return value nilable if the index is known to be within bounds:
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple[0]? # => 1
typeof(tuple[0]?) # => Int32 Indexing with a range literal known at compile-time is also allowed, and the returned value will have the correct sub-tuple type:
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'} # Tuple(Int32, String, Char)
sub = tuple[0..1] # => {1, "hello"}
typeof(sub) # => Tuple(Int32, String) Tuple's own instance classes may also be indexed in a similar manner, returning their element types instead:
tuple = Tuple(Int32, String, Char) tuple[0] # => Int32 tuple[3]? # => nil tuple[1..] # => Tuple(String, Char)
Tuples are the preferred way to return fixed-size multiple return values because no memory is needed to be allocated for them:
def one_and_hello
{1, "hello"}
end
one, hello = one_and_hello
one # => 1
hello # => "hello" Good examples of the above are Number#divmod and Enumerable#minmax.
Tuples can be splat with the * operator and passed to methods:
def multiply(string, value)
string * value
end
tuple = {"hey", 2}
value = multiply(*tuple) # same as multiply tuple[0], tuple[1]
value # => "heyhey" Finally, when using a splat argument in a method definition its type will be a tuple of the call arguments:
def splat_test(*args)
args
end
tuple = splat_test 1, "hello", 'x'
tuple.class # => Tuple(Int32, String, Char)
tuple # => {1, "hello", 'x'} Creates a tuple from the given array, with elements casted to the given types.
Creates a tuple that will contain the given values.
Returns the element type at the given index.
Returns all element types that are within the given range.
Returns the element type at the given index or nil if out of bounds.
Returns the types of this tuple type.
Returns a tuple that contains self's elements followed by other's elements.
The comparison operator.
The comparison operator.
Returns true if this tuple has the same size as the other tuple and their elements are equal to each other when compared with #==.
Returns true if this tuple has the same size as the other tuple and their elements are equal to each other when compared with #==.
Returns false.
Returns true if case equality holds for the elements in self and other.
Returns true if self and other have the same size and case equality holds for the elements in self and other.
Returns the element at the given index.
Returns all elements that are within the given range.
Returns the element at the given index or nil if out of bounds.
Returns the element at the given index or raises IndexError if out of bounds.
Returns the element at the given index or the value returned by the block if out of bounds.
Returns a tuple containing cloned elements of this tuple using the #clone method.
Yields each of the elements in this tuple.
Returns the first element of this tuple.
Returns the first element of this tuple, or nil if this is the empty tuple.
Expects to be called on a tuple of types, creates a tuple from the given array, with types casted appropriately.
Same as #to_s.
Returns the last element of this tuple.
Returns the last element of this tuple, or nil if this is the empty tuple.
Returns a new tuple where elements are mapped by the given block.
Like #map, but the block gets passed both the element and its index.
Just like the other variant, but you can set the initial value of the accumulator.
Combines all elements in the collection by applying a binary operation, specified by a block, so as to reduce them to a single value.
Similar to #reduce, but instead of raising when the input is empty, return nil
Returns a new tuple where the elements are in reverse order.
Yields each of the elements in this tuple in reverse order.
Returns the number of elements in this tuple.
Returns an Array with all the elements in the tuple.
Returns an Array with the results of running block against each element of the tuple.
Appends a string representation of this tuple to the given IO.
Returns a StaticArray with the same elements.
Returns the element at the given index, without doing any bounds check.
Comparable(Tuple(*T))
Indexable(Union(*T))
Indexable(Union(*T))
Enumerable(Union(*T))
Enumerable(Union(*T))
Iterable(Union(*T))
Value
Object
Object
Object
Creates a tuple from the given array, with elements casted to the given types.
Tuple(String, Int64).from(["world", 2_i64]) # => {"world", 2_i64}
Tuple(String, Int64).from(["world", 2_i64]).class # => Tuple(String, Int64) See also: #from.
Creates a tuple that will contain the given values.
This method is useful in macros and generic code because with it you can create empty tuples, something that you can't do with a tuple literal.
Tuple.new(1, "hello", 'x') #=> {1, "hello", 'x'}
Tuple.new #=> {}
{} # syntax error Returns the element type at the given index. Read the type docs to understand the difference between indexing with a number literal or a variable.
alias Foo = Tuple(Int32, String) Foo[0] # => Int32 Foo[0].zero # => 0 Foo[2] # Error: index out of bounds for Tuple(Int32, String).class (2 not in -2..1) i = 0 Foo[i] # => Int32 Foo[i].zero # Error: undefined method 'zero' for String.class (compile-time type is (Int32.class | String.class)) i = 2 Foo[i] # raises IndexError
Returns all element types that are within the given range. range must be a range literal whose value is known at compile-time.
Negative indices count backward from the end of the tuple (-1 is the last element). Additionally, an empty tuple is returned when the starting index for an element range is at the end of the tuple.
Raises a compile-time error if range.begin is out of range.
alias Foo = Tuple(Int32, String, Char) Foo[0..1] # => Tuple(Int32, String) Foo[-2..] # => Tuple(String, Char) Foo[...1] # => Tuple(Int32) Foo[4..] # Error: begin index out of bounds for Tuple(Int32, String, Char).class (4 not in -3..3) i = 0 Foo[i..2] # Error: Tuple.[](Range) can only be called with range literals known at compile-time i = 0..2 Foo[i] # Error: Tuple.[](Range) can only be called with range literals known at compile-time
Returns the element type at the given index or nil if out of bounds. Read the type docs to understand the difference between indexing with a number literal or a variable.
alias Foo = Tuple(Int32, String) Foo[0]? # => Int32 Foo[0]?.zero # => 0 Foo[2]? # => nil typeof(Foo[2]?) # => Nil i = 0 Foo[i]? # => Int32 Foo[i]?.zero # Error: undefined method 'zero' for String.class (compile-time type is (Int32.class | String.class | Nil)) i = 2 Foo[i]? # => nil
Returns the types of this tuple type.
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple.class.types # => {Int32, String, Char} Returns a tuple that contains self's elements followed by other's elements.
t1 = {1, 2}
t2 = {"foo", "bar"}
t3 = t1 + t2
t3 # => {1, 2, "foo", "bar"}
typeof(t3) # => Tuple(Int32, Int32, String, String) The comparison operator.
Each object in each tuple is compared using the <=> operator.
Tuples are compared in an "element-wise" manner; the first element of this tuple is compared with the first one of other using the <=> operator, then each of the second elements, etc. As soon as the result of any such comparison is non-zero (i.e. the two corresponding elements are not equal), that result is returned for the whole tuple comparison.
If all the elements are equal, then the result is based on a comparison of the tuple sizes. Thus, two tuples are "equal" according to <=> if, and only if, they have the same size and the value of each element is equal to the value of the corresponding element in the other tuple.
{"a", "a", "c"} <=> {"a", "b", "c"} # => -1
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} <=> {1, 2} # => 1
{1, 2} <=> {1, 2.0} # => 0 The comparison operator.
Each object in each tuple is compared using the <=> operator.
Tuples are compared in an "element-wise" manner; the first element of this tuple is compared with the first one of other using the <=> operator, then each of the second elements, etc. As soon as the result of any such comparison is non-zero (i.e. the two corresponding elements are not equal), that result is returned for the whole tuple comparison.
If all the elements are equal, then the result is based on a comparison of the tuple sizes. Thus, two tuples are "equal" according to <=> if, and only if, they have the same size and the value of each element is equal to the value of the corresponding element in the other tuple.
{"a", "a", "c"} <=> {"a", "b", "c"} # => -1
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} <=> {1, 2} # => 1
{1, 2} <=> {1, 2.0} # => 0 Returns true if this tuple has the same size as the other tuple and their elements are equal to each other when compared with #==.
t1 = {1, "hello"}
t2 = {1.0, "hello"}
t3 = {2, "hello"}
t1 == t2 # => true
t1 == t3 # => false Returns true if this tuple has the same size as the other tuple and their elements are equal to each other when compared with #==.
t1 = {1, "hello"}
t2 = {1.0, "hello"}
t3 = {2, "hello"}
t1 == t2 # => true
t1 == t3 # => false Returns true if case equality holds for the elements in self and other.
{1, 2} === {1, 2} # => true
{1, 2} === {1, 3} # => false See also: Object#===.
Returns true if self and other have the same size and case equality holds for the elements in self and other.
{1, 2} === {1, 2, 3} # => false
{/o+/, "bar"} === {"foo", "bar"} # => true See also: Object#===.
Returns the element at the given index. Read the type docs to understand the difference between indexing with a number literal or a variable.
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple[0] # => 1
typeof(tuple[0]) # => Int32
tuple[3] # Error: index out of bounds for Tuple(Int32, String, Char) (3 not in -3..2)
i = 0
tuple[i] # => 1
typeof(tuple[i]) # => (Char | Int32 | String)
i = 3
tuple[i] # raises IndexError Returns all elements that are within the given range. range must be a range literal whose value is known at compile-time.
Negative indices count backward from the end of the tuple (-1 is the last element). Additionally, an empty tuple is returned when the starting index for an element range is at the end of the tuple.
Raises a compile-time error if range.begin is out of range.
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple[0..1] # => {1, "hello"}
tuple[-2..] # => {"hello", 'x'}
tuple[...1] # => {1}
tuple[4..] # Error: begin index out of bounds for Tuple(Int32, String, Char) (4 not in -3..3)
i = 0
tuple[i..2] # Error: Tuple#[](Range) can only be called with range literals known at compile-time
i = 0..2
tuple[i] # Error: Tuple#[](Range) can only be called with range literals known at compile-time Returns the element at the given index or nil if out of bounds. Read the type docs to understand the difference between indexing with a number literal or a variable.
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple[0]? # => 1
typeof(tuple[0]?) # => Int32
tuple[3]? # => nil
typeof(tuple[3]?) # => Nil
i = 0
tuple[i]? # => 1
typeof(tuple[i]?) # => (Char | Int32 | String | Nil)
i = 3
tuple[i]? # => nil Returns the element at the given index or raises IndexError if out of bounds.
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple.at(0) # => 1
tuple.at(3) # raises IndexError Returns the element at the given index or the value returned by the block if out of bounds.
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple.at(0) { 10 } # => 1
tuple.at(3) { 10 } # => 10 Yields each of the elements in this tuple.
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple.each do |value|
puts value
end Output:
1 "hello" 'x'
Returns the first element of this tuple. Doesn't compile if the tuple is empty.
tuple = {1, 2.5}
tuple.first # => 1 Returns the first element of this tuple, or nil if this is the empty tuple.
tuple = {1, 2.5}
tuple.first? # => 1
empty = Tuple.new
empty.first? # => nil Expects to be called on a tuple of types, creates a tuple from the given array, with types casted appropriately.
This allows you to easily pass an array as individual arguments to a method.
require "json"
def speak_about(thing : String, n : Int64)
"I see #{n} #{thing}s"
end
data = JSON.parse(%(["world", 2])).as_a.map(&.raw)
speak_about(*{String, Int64}.from(data)) # => "I see 2 worlds" Returns the last element of this tuple. Doesn't compile if the tuple is empty.
tuple = {1, 2.5}
tuple.last # => 2.5 Returns the last element of this tuple, or nil if this is the empty tuple.
tuple = {1, 2.5}
tuple.last? # => 2.5
empty = Tuple.new
empty.last? # => nil Returns a new tuple where elements are mapped by the given block.
tuple = {1, 2.5, "a"}
tuple.map &.to_s # => {"1", "2.5", "a"} Like #map, but the block gets passed both the element and its index.
tuple = {1, 2.5, "a"}
tuple.map_with_index { |e, i| "tuple[#{i}]: #{e}" } # => {"tuple[0]: 1", "tuple[1]: 2.5", "tuple[2]: a"} Accepts an optional offset parameter, which tells it to start counting from there.
Just like the other variant, but you can set the initial value of the accumulator.
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].reduce(10) { |acc, i| acc + i } # => 25
[1, 2, 3].reduce([] of Int32) { |memo, i| memo.unshift(i) } # => [3, 2, 1] Combines all elements in the collection by applying a binary operation, specified by a block, so as to reduce them to a single value.
For each element in the collection the block is passed an accumulator value (memo) and the element. The result becomes the new value for memo. At the end of the iteration, the final value of memo is the return value for the method. The initial value for the accumulator is the first element in the collection. If the collection has only one element, that element is returned.
Raises Enumerable::EmptyError if the collection is empty.
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].reduce { |acc, i| acc + i } # => 15
[1].reduce { |acc, i| acc + i } # => 1
([] of Int32).reduce { |acc, i| acc + i } # raises Enumerable::EmptyError The block is not required to return a T, in which case the accumulator's type includes whatever the block returns.
# `acc` is an `Int32 | String`
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].reduce { |acc, i| "#{acc}-#{i}" } # => "1-2-3-4-5"
[1].reduce { |acc, i| "#{acc}-#{i}" } # => 1 Similar to #reduce, but instead of raising when the input is empty, return nil
([] of Int32).reduce? { |acc, i| acc + i } # => nil Returns a new tuple where the elements are in reverse order.
tuple = {1, 2.5, "a"}
tuple.reverse # => {"a", 2.5, 1} Yields each of the elements in this tuple in reverse order.
tuple = {1, "hello", 'x'}
tuple.reverse_each do |value|
puts value
end Output:
'x' "hello" 1
Returns the number of elements in this tuple.
{'a', 'b'}.size # => 2 Returns an Array with all the elements in the tuple.
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.to_a # => [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Returns an Array with the results of running block against each element of the tuple.
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}).to_a { |i| i * 2 } # => [2, 4, 6, 8, 10] Appends a string representation of this tuple to the given IO.
tuple = {1, "hello"}
tuple.to_s # => "{1, \"hello\"}" Returns a StaticArray with the same elements.
The element type is Union(*T).
{1, 'a', true}.to_static_array # => StaticArray[1, 'a', true] Returns the element at the given index, without doing any bounds check.
Indexable makes sure to invoke this method with index in 0...size, so converting negative indices to positive ones is not needed here.
Clients never invoke this method directly. Instead, they access elements with #[](index) and #[]?(index).
This method should only be directly invoked if you are absolutely sure the index is in bounds, to avoid a bounds check for a small boost of performance.
© 2012–2026 Manas Technology Solutions.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.19.0/Tuple.html