Distance to nearest vowel

Distance_to_nearest_vowel.rb

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+=begin
+Write a function that takes in a string and for each character,
+returns the distance to the nearest vowel in the string.
+If the character is a vowel itself, return 0.
+
+Examples
+
+distance_to_nearest_vowel("aaaaa") ➞ [0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
+
+distance_to_nearest_vowel("babbb") ➞ [1, 0, 1, 2, 3]
+
+distance_to_nearest_vowel("abcdabcd") ➞ [0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3]
+
+distance_to_nearest_vowel("shopper") ➞ [2, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1]
+
+Notes
+
+All input strings will contain at least one vowel.
+Strings will be lowercased.
+Vowels are: a, e, i, o, u.   
+
+=end
+$vowels = { a: 0, e: 0, i: 0, o: 0, u: 0 }
+
+def calculation(array, index)
+  left_count = 0 
+  right_count = 0
+  for i in 0..index
+    break if $vowels[array[index - i].to_sym]
+    left_count += 1
+  end   
+  for j in index..array.length-1
+    break if $vowels[array[j].to_sym]
+    right_count += 1
+  end 
+
+  return left_count if index == array.length - 1
+  return right_count if left_count >= right_count || index == 0  
+  left_count
+end
+
+def distance_to_nearest_vowel(string)
+  result = [] 
+  array = string.chars
+  array.each_with_index do |letter, ind|
+    if !$vowels[letter.to_sym]
+        result << calculation(array, ind)
+    else 
+        result << $vowels[letter.to_sym]
+    end
+  end 
+  result
+end 
+
+print distance_to_nearest_vowel("aaaaa")
+puts " "
+print distance_to_nearest_vowel("abcdabcd")
+puts " "
+print distance_to_nearest_vowel("babbb") 
+puts " "
+print distance_to_nearest_vowel("shopper")
+puts " "