gistfile1.rb

# Return the given key's value from the (CakePHP) database config
# file.  This will read through the config string looking for
# 'key' => 'value' pairs in the PHP array.  Then, it will
# strip newlines, spaces, and substitute any quotes.
#
# I use this in a Rakefile I created to help ease the
# pain of working with CakePHP.
#
# Usage:
#   File.open('database.php') do |f|
#     config = f.read
#     host = fetch_from(config, 'host')
#     password = fetch_from(config, 'password')
#     # ...etc...
#   end
#
# Yes, it is completely hackish.
def fetch_from(config, key)
  value = config.grep(/'#{key}' => (\w*)/).first.split('=>')[1]
  value.gsub!(',', '').gsub!("'", '').chomp!.strip!
  value
end