Arguments.rb

class Arguments < Hash
	def initialize (input)
		if input.is_a? String
      p input
			@quote = false
			@escape = false
			@buffer = ''
			@key = ''

			input.each_char do |char|
        self << char
      end

      flush

    elsif input.is_a? Hash
			self.merge! input
		end
	end
  def << (char)
    if @escape
      if char == 'n'
        @buffer << "\n"
      else
        @buffer << char
      end
      @escape = false
    else
      case char
      when '"', "'" # Marking the start or end of a quoted string
        @quote = !@quote
      when ' ' # Separator
        if @quote # Except in quoted strings
          @buffer << char
        else
          if @key.empty?
            self[@buffer.downcase] = true
          else
            self[@key.downcase] = @buffer
            @key = ''
          end
          @buffer = ''
        end
      when '=' # key=value
        @key = @buffer
        @buffer = ''
      when "\\" # Escape sequence
        @escape = true
      else # Errything else
        @buffer << char
      end
    end
  end
  def flush
    if @key.empty?
      self[@buffer.downcase] = true
    else
      self[@key.downcase] = @buffer
    end
  end
	def to_s
		out = []
		self.each do |key, value|
			if value == true
				out.push key
			elsif value.include? ' '
				out.push ""
				out.last << key
				out.last << '='
				out.last << '"' + value.to_s.gsub('"', '\\"') + '"'
			else
				out.push key + '=' + value.to_s.gsub('"', '\\\"')
			end
		end
		return out.join ' '
	end
end