How to slugify a string in Ruby on Rails

1. Using Rails' parameterize method (I recommend this)

string = "Hello Stein! This is a Test"
slug = string.parameterize
# => "hello-stein-this-is-a-test"

# You can use custom separators
slug = string.parameterize(separator: '_')
# => "hello_stein_this_is_a_test"

2. Using parameterize with locale support

string = "Café & Restaurant"
slug = string.parameterize
# => "cafe-restaurant"

# Preserve unicode characters
slug = string.parameterize(preserve_case: true)
# => "Cafe-Restaurant"

3. For model attributes (Often used

class Article < ApplicationRecord
  validates :slug, presence: true, uniqueness: true
  before_validation :generate_slug, if: :title_changed?

  private

  def generate_slug
    self.slug = title.parameterize if title.present?
  end
end

4. Custom slugify method

Or if you want to make your own method to be more in control.

def slugify(string)
  string.downcase
        .strip
        .gsub(/[^\w\s-]/, '') # Remove non-word characters except spaces and hyphens
        .gsub(/\s+/, '-')     # Replace spaces with hyphens
        .gsub(/-+/, '-')      # Replace multiple hyphens with single hyphen
        .gsub(/^-|-$/, '')    # Remove leading/trailing hyphens
end

slug = slugify("Hello World! This is a Test")
# => "hello-world-this-is-a-test"

Summary

So, that was 4 different ways to make slugs from strings in Ruby on Rails. What's your preferred way to do this?