diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 58e8e2a..8d9a0c9 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -1,4 +1,17 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 source "https://rubygems.org"
 
+# allow testing for ruby environment
 gem "rspec"
+
+# command line tool to easily handle events on file system modifications
+gem 'guard'
+
+# automatically runs shell commands when watched files are modified
+gem 'guard-shell'
+
+# FSEvents API with Signals catching
+gem 'rb-fsevent', '~> 0.9'
+
+# Debugging tool for Ruby
+gem 'pry'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index fe56376..5b1aece 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -1,7 +1,38 @@
 GEM
   remote: https://rubygems.org/
   specs:
+    coderay (1.1.3)
     diff-lcs (1.3)
+    ffi (1.15.4)
+    formatador (0.3.0)
+    guard (2.18.0)
+      formatador (>= 0.2.4)
+      listen (>= 2.7, < 4.0)
+      lumberjack (>= 1.0.12, < 2.0)
+      nenv (~> 0.1)
+      notiffany (~> 0.0)
+      pry (>= 0.13.0)
+      shellany (~> 0.0)
+      thor (>= 0.18.1)
+    guard-compat (1.2.1)
+    guard-shell (0.7.2)
+      guard (>= 2.0.0)
+      guard-compat (~> 1.0)
+    listen (3.7.0)
+      rb-fsevent (~> 0.10, >= 0.10.3)
+      rb-inotify (~> 0.9, >= 0.9.10)
+    lumberjack (1.2.8)
+    method_source (1.0.0)
+    nenv (0.3.0)
+    notiffany (0.1.3)
+      nenv (~> 0.1)
+      shellany (~> 0.0)
+    pry (0.14.1)
+      coderay (~> 1.1)
+      method_source (~> 1.0)
+    rb-fsevent (0.11.0)
+    rb-inotify (0.10.1)
+      ffi (~> 1.0)
     rspec (3.8.0)
       rspec-core (~> 3.8.0)
       rspec-expectations (~> 3.8.0)
@@ -15,12 +46,18 @@ GEM
       diff-lcs (>= 1.2.0, < 2.0)
       rspec-support (~> 3.8.0)
     rspec-support (3.8.0)
+    shellany (0.0.1)
+    thor (1.1.0)
 
 PLATFORMS
   ruby
 
 DEPENDENCIES
+  guard
+  guard-shell
+  pry
+  rb-fsevent (~> 0.9)
   rspec
 
 BUNDLED WITH
-   2.0.2
+   2.2.22
diff --git a/Guardfile b/Guardfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..979f716
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Guardfile
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# A sample Guardfile
+# More info at https://github.com/guard/guard#readme
+
+## Uncomment and set this to only include directories you want to watch
+# directories %w(app lib config test spec features) \
+#  .select{|d| Dir.exist?(d) ? d : UI.warning("Directory #{d} does not exist")}
+
+## Note: if you are using the `directories` clause above and you are not
+## watching the project directory ('.'), then you will want to move
+## the Guardfile to a watched dir and symlink it back, e.g.
+#
+#  $ mkdir config
+#  $ mv Guardfile config/
+#  $ ln -s config/Guardfile .
+#
+# and, you'll have to watch "config/Guardfile" instead of "Guardfile"
+
+# Add files and commands to this file, like the example:
+#   watch(%r{file/path}) { `command(s)` }
+#
+# guard :shell do
+#   watch(/(.*).txt/) {|m| `tail #{m[0]}` }
+# end
+
+guard :shell do
+  watch(%r{^*\.rb}) { `bundle exec rspec spec/` }
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e69de29..af1cda4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+References to completing this code challenge:
+
+1) https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.2/Enumerable.html#method-i-inject
+
+2) https://stackoverflow.com/questions/698300/how-can-i-initialize-a-modules-instance-variables-in-ruby
+
+3) https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.2/Enumerable.html#method-i-inject
+
+4) https://rspec.info/
+
+5) https://commandercoriander.net/blog/2014/11/09/a-multiline-string-cheatsheet-for-ruby/
+
+6) http://jeromedalbert.com/ruby-how-to-iterate-the-right-way/
+
+7) https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36963844/difference-between-and-in-ruby
+
+8) https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32059200/convert-string-to-integer-preserving-leading-zeroes
+
+9) https://relishapp.com/rspec/rspec-core/v/2-11/docs/helper-methods/let-and-let
+
+10) https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26477464/describe-vs-context-in-rspec-differences
+
+11) https://relishapp.com/rspec/rspec-core/v/3-8/docs/example-groups/basic-structure-describe-it
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/policy_ocr.rb b/lib/policy_ocr.rb
index f35a036..7654406 100644
--- a/lib/policy_ocr.rb
+++ b/lib/policy_ocr.rb
@@ -1,2 +1,73 @@
+require 'pry'
+
 module PolicyOcr
+
+    # initializing global variables
+    # @file takes in sample.txt, maps and 
+    # creates strings for each line, and 
+    # chomps(removes) the "\n" by using the to_proc
+    # chomp method (.map { | foo | foo.chomp })
+
+    @file = File.readlines("./spec/fixtures/sample.txt").map(&:chomp)
+    @lines = @file.size / 4 # taking size of the file (44 lines) divided by 4 (1 ocr)
+    @columns = @file.first.size / 3 # taking the size of the first line (27 columns) divided by 3 (1 ocr digit)
+
+    # method for mapping out digits into strings
+    # we are creating values for each string pattern
+    def self.digits 
+        {
+            " _ | ||_|   " => '0',
+            "     |  |   " => '1',
+            " _  _||_    " => '2',
+            " _  _| _|   " => '3',
+            "   |_|  |   " => '4',
+            " _ |_  _|   " => '5',
+            " _ |_ |_|   " => '6',
+            " _   |  |   " => '7',
+            " _ |_||_|   " => '8',
+            " _ |_| _|   " => '9'
+        }
+    end
+
+    # creates a string of the policy number,
+    # by injecting the bars and pipes into a
+    # string from @file.
+
+    #line equals amount of lines(44) in each ocr_block(11)
+    #column equals amount of ocr_columns(9) in each ocr_block(11)
+
+    def self.policy_number(line, column)
+        (0..3).inject("") do | ocr_num, sections | 
+            ocr_num + @file[line * 4 + sections][column * 3, 3]
+        end
+    end
+    
+    # these bottom two methods take in an OCR file,
+    # and parces the ocr number using exclusive
+    # ranges, and converting them into a string to
+    # then be translated to their respective values
+
+    def self.conversion(file)
+        (0...@lines).inject([]) do | policy_array, line |
+            policy_array << numbers(line)
+        end.map{ | number_string | number_string.to_i } # turning string to integer
+    end
+
+    # call policy_number to inject the fetched 
+    # digits using the digits method first and injecting 
+    # them into an string, to be called in the conversion method
+
+    def self.numbers(line)
+        (0...@columns).inject("") do |digit, column| 
+            digit + digits.fetch(policy_number(line, column))
+        end
+    end
+
 end
+
+# unable to actually receive nine 0s as ruby
+# counts multiple int 0s as the value of 
+# a single int 0
+p PolicyOcr.conversion(@file)
+
+PolicyOcr.conversion(@file).map{ | policy_num | p policy_num } # see each number individually
diff --git a/spec/policy_ocr_spec.rb b/spec/policy_ocr_spec.rb
index 2245a42..b360646 100644
--- a/spec/policy_ocr_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/policy_ocr_spec.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,17 @@
 require_relative '../lib/policy_ocr'
 
+    # @file = File.readlines("./spec/fixtures/sample.txt").map(&:chomp)
+    # @lines = @file.size / 4
+    # @columns = @file.first.size / 3
+
 describe PolicyOcr do
+  let(:policy) { PolicyOcr }
+  let(:file) { @file }
+
+  before :context do
+    @file = File.readlines("./spec/fixtures/sample.txt").map(&:chomp)
+  end
+
   it "loads" do
     expect(PolicyOcr).to be_a Module
   end
@@ -8,4 +19,57 @@
   it 'loads the sample.txt' do
     expect(fixture('sample').lines.count).to eq(44)
   end
+
+  it 'should assign sample.txt to @file' do
+    expect(@file).to eq(File.readlines("./spec/fixtures/sample.txt").map(&:chomp))
+  end
+
+  it 'converts OCR to an array' do
+    expect(policy.conversion(file)).to be_an_instance_of(Array)
+  end
+
+  it 'converts OCR to an integer in array' do
+    expect(policy.conversion(file)[0]).to be_an_instance_of(Integer)
+  end
+
+  # it 'reads and injects each digit into a one line string' do
+  #   expect(policy.policy_number)
+  # end
+
+  context 'converts OCR to appropriate number' do
+    it 'recognizes 0' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[0]).to eq(0)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 1' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[1]).to eq(111111111)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 2' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[2]).to eq(222222222)    
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 3' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[3]).to eq(333333333)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 4' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[4]).to eq(444444444)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 5' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[5]).to eq(555555555)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 6' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[6]).to eq(666666666)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 7' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[7]).to eq(777777777)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 8' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[8]).to eq(888888888)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes 9' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[9]).to eq(999999999)
+    end
+    it 'recognizes mixed numbers' do
+      expect(policy.conversion(file)[10]).to eq(123456789)
+    end
+  end
+
 end