digits.rb

#! /usr/bin/env ruby

# in ruby 1.8, Enumerator is limited
require 'generator'

# 1234 -> [1, 2, 3, 4]
# but don't use a String
def digits(i, base = 10)
  g = Generator.new do |g|
    begin
      dm = i.divmod(base)
      g.yield dm.last
      i = dm.first
    end until i.zero?
  end
  g.to_a.reverse
end

p digits(0755)
# => [4, 9, 3]
p digits(0755, 8)
# => [7, 5, 5]

def digits(i, base = 10)
  ret = []
  while i > 0
    ret << i % base
    i /= base
  end
  ret.reverse
end