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Ruby


What is Ruby ?

Ruby is a pure object oriented programming language. It was created in 1993 by Yukihiro Matsumoto of Japan. Ruby is a general-purpose, interpreted programming language like PERL and Python.

What is IRb ?

Interactive Ruby (IRb) provides a shell for experimentation. Within the IRb shell, you can immediately view expression results, line by line.
This tool comes along with Ruby installation so you have nothing to do extra to have IRb working. Just type irb at your command prompt and an Interactive Ruby Session will start.


Download Ruby Tutorial (PDF Version)



Ruby Syntax:

  • Whitespace characters such as spaces and tabs are generally ignored in Ruby code, except when they appear in strings.
  • Ruby interprets semicolons and newline characters as the ending of a statement. However, if Ruby encounters operators, such as +, -, or backslash at the end of a line, they indicate the continuation of a statement.
  • Identifiers are names of variables, constants, and methods. Ruby identifiers are case sensitive. It mean Ram and RAM are two different itendifiers in Ruby.
  • Ruby comments start with a pound/sharp (#) character and go to EOL.

Reserved words:

The following list shows the reserved words in Ruby. These reserved words should not be used as constant or variable names in your program, however, be used as method names.
BEGINdonextthen
ENDelsenilltrue
aliaselsifnotundef
andendorunless
beginensureredountil
breakfalserescuewhen
caseforretrywhile
classifreturnwhile
definself__FILE__
defined?modulesuper__LINE__

Here Docs in Ruby:

Here are different examples:
#!/usr/bin/ruby -w
print <<EOF
    This is the first way of creating
    her document ie. multiple line string.
EOF
print <<"EOF";                # same as above
    This is the second way of creating
    her document ie. multiple line string.
EOF
print <<`EOC`                 # execute commands
 echo hi there
 echo lo there
EOC
print <<"foo", <<"bar"  # you can stack them
 I said foo.
foo
 I said bar.
bar

Ruby Data Types:

Basic types are numbers, strings, ranges, arrays, and hashes.

Integer Numbers in Ruby:

123                  # Fixnum decimal
1_6889               # Fixnum decimal with underline
-5000                # Negative Fixnum
0377                 # octal
0xee                 # hexadecimal
0b1011011            # binary
?b                   # character code for 'b'
?\n                  # code for a newline (0x0a)
12345678901234567890 # Bignum

Float Numbers in Ruby:

1023.4               # floating point value
1.0e6                # scientific notation
4E20                 # dot not required
4e+20                # sign before exponential

String Literals:

Ruby strings are simply sequences of 8-bit bytes and they are objects of class String.
  • 'VariableName': No interpolation will be done
  • "#{VariableName} and Backslashes \n:" Interpolation will be done
  • %q(VariableName): No interpolation will be done
  • %Q(VariableName and Backslashes \n): Interpolation will be done
  • %(VariableName and Backslashes \n): Interpolation will be done
  • `echo command interpretation with interpolation and backslashes
  • %x(echo command interpretation with interpolation and backslashes)

Backslash Notations:

Following is the list of Backslash notations supported by Ruby:
NotationCharacter represented
\nNewline (0x0a)
\rCarriage return (0x0d)
\fFormfeed (0x0c)
\bBackspace (0x08)
\aBell (0x07)
\eEscape (0x1b)
\sSpace (0x20)
\nnnOctal notation (n being 0-7)
\xnnHexadecimal notation (n being 0-9, a-f, or A-F)
\cx, \C-xControl-x
\M-xMeta-x (c | 0x80)
\M-\C-xMeta-Control-x
\xCharacter x

Ruby Arrays:

Literals of Ruby Array are created by placing a comma-separated series of object references between square brackets. A trailing comma is ignored.

Example:

#!/usr/bin/ruby
ary = [  "Ali", 10, 3.14, "This is a string", "last element", ]
ary.each do |i|
   puts i
end
This will produce following result:
Ali
10
3.14
This is a string
last element

Ruby Hashes:

A literal Ruby Hash is created by placing a list of key/value pairs between braces, with either a comma or the sequence => between the key and the value. A trailing comma is ignored.

Example:

#!/usr/bin/ruby
hsh = colors = { "red" => 0xf00, "green" => 0x0f0 }
hsh.each do |key, value|
   print key, " is ", value, "\n"
end
This will produce following result:
green is 240
red is 3840

Ruby Ranges:

A Range represents an interval.a set of values with a start and an end. Ranges may be constructed using the s..e and s...e literals, or with Range.new.
Ranges constructed using .. run from the start to the end inclusively. Those created using ... exclude the end value. When used as an iterator, ranges return each value in the sequence.
A range (1..5) means it includes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 values and a range (1...5) means it includes 2, 3, 4 values.

Example:

#!/usr/bin/ruby
(10..15).each do |n| 
   print n, ' ' 
end
This will produce following result:
10 11 12 13 14 15

Variable Types:

  • $global_variable
  • @@class_variable
  • @instance_variable
  • [OtherClass::]CONSTANT
  • local_variable

Ruby Pseudo-Variables:

They are special variables that have the appearance of local variables but behave like constants. You can not assign any value to these variables.
  • self: The receiver object of the current method.
  • true: Value representing true.
  • false: Value representing false.
  • nil: Value representing undefined.
  • __FILE__: The name of the current source file.
  • __LINE__: The current line number in the source file.

Ruby Predefined Variables:

Following table lists all the Ruby's predefined variables.
Variable NameDescription
$!The last exception object raised. The exception object can also be accessed using => in rescue clause.
$@The stack backtrace for the last exception raised. The stack backtrace information can retrieved by Exception#backtrace method of the last exception.
$/The input record separator (newline by default). gets, readline, etc., take their input record separator as optional argument.
$\The output record separator (nil by default).
$,The output separator between the arguments to print and Array#join (nil by default). You can specify separator explicitly to Array#join.
$;The default separator for split (nil by default). You can specify separator explicitly for String#split.
$.The number of the last line read from the current input file. Equivalent to ARGF.lineno.
$<Synonym for ARGF.
$>Synonym for $defout.
$0The name of the current Ruby program being executed.
$$The process pid of the current Ruby program being executed.
$?The exit status of the last process terminated.
$:Synonym for $LOAD_PATH.
$DEBUGTrue if the -d or --debug command-line option is specified.
$defoutThe destination output for print and printf ($stdout by default).
$FThe variable that receives the output from split when -a is specified. This variable is set if the -a command-line option is specified along with the -p or -n option.
$FILENAMEThe name of the file currently being read from ARGF. Equivalent to ARGF.filename.
$LOAD_PATHAn array holding the directories to be searched when loading files with the load and require methods.
$SAFEThe security level
  • 0 --> No checks are performed on externally supplied (tainted) data. (default)
  • 1 --> Potentially dangerous operations using tainted data are forbidden.
  • 2 --> Potentially dangerous operations on processes and files are forbidden.
  • 3 --> All newly created objects are considered tainted.
  • 4 --> Modification of global data is forbidden.
$stdinStandard input (STDIN by default).
$stdoutStandard output (STDOUT by default).
$stderrStandard error (STDERR by default).
$VERBOSETrue if the -v, -w, or --verbose command-line option is specified.
$- xThe value of interpreter option -x (x=0, a, d, F, i, K, l, p, v). These options are listed below
$-0The value of interpreter option -x and alias of $/.
$-aThe value of interpreter option -x and true if option -a is set. Read-only.
$-dThe value of interpreter option -x and alias of $DEBUG
$-FThe value of interpreter option -x and alias of $;.
$-iThe value of interpreter option -x and in in-place-edit mode, holds the extension, otherwise nil. Can enable or disable in-place-edit mode.
$-IThe value of interpreter option -x and alias of $:.
$-lThe value of interpreter option -x and true if option -lis set. Read-only.
$-pThe value of interpreter option -x and true if option -pis set. Read-only.
$_The local variable, last string read by gets or readline in the current scope.
$~The local variable, MatchData relating to the last match. Regex#match method returns the last match information.
$ n ($1, $2, $3...)The string matched in the nth group of the last pattern match. Equivalent to m[n], where m is a MatchData object.
$&The string matched in the last pattern match. Equivalent to m[0], where m is a MatchData object.
$`The string preceding the match in the last pattern match. Equivalent to m.pre_match, where m is a MatchData object.
$'The string following the match in the last pattern match. Equivalent to m.post_match, where m is a MatchData object.
$+The string corresponding to the last successfully matched group in the last pattern match.
$+The string corresponding to the last successfully matched group in the last pattern match.

Ruby Predefined Constants:

The following table lists all the Ruby's Predefined Constants.
NOTE: TRUE, FALSE, and NIL are backward-compatible. It's preferable to use true, false, and nil.
Constant NameDescription
TRUESynonym for true.
FALSESynonym for false.
NILSynonym for nil.
ARGFAn object providing access to virtual concatenation of files passed as command-line arguments or standard input if there are no command-line arguments. A synonym for $<.
ARGVAn array containing the command-line arguments passed to the program. A synonym for $*.
DATAAn input stream for reading the lines of code following the __END__ directive. Not defined if __END__ isn't present in code.
ENVA hash-like object containing the program's environment variables. ENV can be handled as a hash.
RUBY_PLATFORMA string indicating the platform of the Ruby interpreter.
RUBY_RELEASE_DATEA string indicating the release date of the Ruby interpreter
RUBY_VERSIONA string indicating the version of the Ruby interpreter.
STDERRStandard error output stream. Default value of $stderr.
STDINStandard input stream. Default value of $stdin.
STDOUTStandard output stream. Default value of $stdout.
TOPLEVEL_BINDINGA Binding object at Ruby's top level.

Regular Expressions:

Syntax:
/pattern/
/pattern/im    # option can be specified
%r!/usr/local! # general delimited regular expression
Modifiers:
ModifierDescription
iIgnore case when matching text.
oPerform #{} interpolations only once, the first time the regexp literal is evaluated.
xIgnores whitespace and allows comments in regular expressions
mMatches multiple lines, recognizing newlines as normal characters
u,e,s,nInterpret the regexp as Unicode (UTF-8), EUC, SJIS, or ASCII. If none of these modifiers is specified, the regular expression is assumed to use the source encoding.
Various patterns:
PatternDescription
^Matches beginning of line.
$Matches end of line.
.Matches any single character except newline. Using m option allows it to match newline as well.
[...]Matches any single character in brackets.
[^...]Matches any single character not in brackets
re*Matches 0 or more occurrences of preceding expression.
re+Matches 0 or 1 occurrence of preceding expression.
re{ n}Matches exactly n number of occurrences of preceding expression.
re{ n,}Matches n or more occurrences of preceding expression.
re{ n, m}Matches at least n and at most m occurrences of preceding expression.
a| bMatches either a or b.
(re)Groups regular expressions and remembers matched text.
(?imx)Temporarily toggles on i, m, or x options within a regular expression. If in parentheses, only that area is affected.
(?-imx)Temporarily toggles off i, m, or x options within a regular expression. If in parentheses, only that area is affected.
(?: re)Groups regular expressions without remembering matched text.
(?imx: re)Temporarily toggles on i, m, or x options within parentheses.
(?-imx: re)Temporarily toggles off i, m, or x options within parentheses.
(?#...)Comment.
(?= re)Specifies position using a pattern. Doesn't have a range.
(?! re)Specifies position using pattern negation. Doesn't have a range.
(?> re)Matches independent pattern without backtracking.
\wMatches word characters.
\WMatches nonword characters.
\sMatches whitespace. Equivalent to [\t\n\r\f].
\SMatches nonwhitespace.
\dMatches digits. Equivalent to [0-9].
\DMatches nondigits.
\AMatches beginning of string.
\ZMatches end of string. If a newline exists, it matches just before newline.
\zMatches end of string.
\GMatches point where last match finished.
\bMatches word boundaries when outside brackets. Matches backspace (0x08) when inside brackets.
\BMatches nonword boundaries.
\n, \t, etc.Matches newlines, carriage returns, tabs, etc.
\1...\9Matches nth grouped subexpression.
\10Matches nth grouped subexpression if it matched already. Otherwise refers to the octal representation of a character code.

File I/O:

Common methods include:
  • File.join(p1, p2, ... pN) => "p1/p2/.../pN" platform independent paths
  • File.new(path, modestring="r") => file
  • File.new(path, modenum [, permnum]) => file
  • File.open(fileName, aModeString="r") {|file| block} -> nil
  • File.open(fileName [, aModeNum [, aPermNum ]]) {|file| block} -> nil
  • IO.foreach(path, sepstring=$/) {|line| block}
  • IO.readlines(path) => array
Here is a list of the different modes of opening a file:
ModesDescription
rRead-only mode. The file pointer is placed at the beginning of the file. This is the default mode.
r+Read-write mode. The file pointer will be at the beginning of the file.
wWrite-only mode. Overwrites the file if the file exists. If the file does not exist, creates a new file for writing.
w+Read-write mode. Overwrites the existing file if the file exists. If the file does not exist, creates a new file for reading and writing.
aWrite-only mode. The file pointer is at the end of the file if the file exists. That is, the file is in the append mode. If the file does not exist, it creates a new file for writing.
a+Read and write mode. The file pointer is at the end of the file if the file exists. The file opens in the append mode. If the file does not exist, it creates a new file for reading and writing.

Operators and Precedence:

Top to bottom:
:: .
[]
**
-(unary) +(unary) ! ~
*  /  %
+  -
<<  >>
&
|  ^
>  >=  <  <=
<=> == === != =~ !~
&&
||
.. ...
=(+=, -=...)
not
and or
All of the above are just methods except these:
=, ::, ., .., ..., !, not, &&, and, ||, or, !=, !~
In addition, assignment operators(+= etc.) are not user-definable.

Control Expressions:

S.N.Control Expression
1
if bool-expr [then]
  body
elsif bool-expr [then]
  body
else
  body
end
2
unless bool-expr [then]
  body
else
  body
end
3
expr if     bool-expr
4
expr unless bool-expr
5
case target-expr
  when comparison [, comparison]... [then]
    body
  when comparison [, comparison]... [then]
    body
  ...
[else
  body]
end
6
loop do
  body
end
7
while bool-expr [do]
 body
end
8
until bool-expr [do]
 body
end
9
begin
 body
end while bool-expr
10
begin
 body
end until bool-expr
11
for name[, name]... in expr [do]
  body
end
12
expr.each do | name[, name]... |
  body
end
13
expr while bool-expr
14
expr until bool-expr
  • break terminates loop immediately.
  • redo immediately repeats w/o rerunning the condition.
  • next starts the next iteration through the loop.
  • retry restarts the loop, rerunning the condition.

Defining a Class:

Class names begin w/ capital character.
class Identifier [< superclass ]
  expr..
end
Singleton classes, add methods to a single instance
class << obj
  expr..
end

Defining a Module:

Following is the general syntax to define a module in ruby
module Identifier
  expr..
end

Defining a Method:

Following is the general syntax to define a method in ruby
def method_name(arg_list, *list_expr, &block_expr)
  expr..
end
# singleton method
def expr.identifier(arg_list, *list_expr, &block_expr)
  expr..
end
  • All items of the arg list, including parens, are optional.
  • Arguments may have default values (name=expr).
  • Method_name may be operators (see above).
  • The method definitions can not be nested.
  • Methods may override following operators:
    • .., |, ^, &, <=>, ==, ===, =~,
    • >, >=, <, <=,
    • +, -, *, /, %, **, <<, >>,
    • ~, +@, -@, [], []= (2 args)

Access Restriction:

  • public - totally accessible.
  • protected - accessible only by instances of class and direct descendants. Even through hasA relationships. (see below)
  • private - accessible only by instances of class (must be called nekkid no "self." or anything else).
Example:
class A
  protected
  def protected_method
    # nothing
  end
end
class B < A
  public
  def test_protected
    myA = A.new
    myA.protected_method
  end
end
b = B.new.test_protected

Raising and Rescuing Exceptions:

Following is the syntax:
raise ExceptionClass[, "message"]
begin
  expr..
[rescue [error_type [=> var],..]
  expr..]..
[else
  expr..]
[ensure
  expr..]
end

Catch and Throw Exceptions:

  • catch (:label) do ... end
  • throw :label jumps back to matching catch and terminates the block.
  • + can be external to catch, but has to be reached via calling scope.
  • + Hardly ever needed.

Exceptions Classes:

Following is the class hierarchy of Exception class:
  • Exception
    • NoMemoryError
    • ScriptError
      • LoadError
      • NotImplementedError
      • SyntaxError
    • SignalException
      • Interrupt
    • StandardError (default for rescue)
      • ArgumentError
      • IOError
        • EOFError
      • IndexError
      • LocalJumpError
      • NameError
        • NoMethodError
      • RangeError
        • FloatDomainError
      • RegexpError
      • RuntimeError (default for raise)
      • SecurityError
      • SystemCallError
        • Errno::*
      • SystemStackError
      • ThreadError
      • TypeError
      • ZeroDivisionError
    • SystemExit
    • fatal

Ruby Command Line Options:

$ ruby [ options ] [.] [ programfile ] [ arguments ... ]
The interpreter can be invoked with any of the following options to control the environment and behavior of the interpreter.
OptionDescription
-aUsed with -n or -p to split each line. Check -n and -p options.
-cChecks syntax only, without executing program.
-C dirChanges directory before executing (equivalent to -X).
-dEnables debug mode (equivalent to -debug).
-F patSpecifies pat as the default separator pattern ($;) used by split.
-e progSpecifies prog as the program from the command line. Specify multiple -e options for multiline programs.
-hDisplays an overview of command-line options.
-i [ ext]Overwrites the file contents with program output. The original file is saved with the extension ext. If ext isn't specified, the original file is deleted.
-I dirAdds dir as the directory for loading libraries.
-K [ kcode]Specifies the multibyte character set code (e or E for EUC (extended Unix code); s or S for SJIS (Shift-JIS); u or U for UTF-8; and a, A, n, or N for ASCII).
-lEnables automatic line-end processing. Chops a newline from input lines and appends a newline to output lines.
-nPlaces code within an input loop (as in while gets; ... end).
-0[ octal]Sets default record separator ($/) as an octal. Defaults to \0 if octal not specified.
-pPlaces code within an input loop. Writes $_ for each iteration.
-r libUses require to load lib as a library before executing.
-sInterprets any arguments between the program name and filename arguments fitting the pattern -xxx as a switch and defines the corresponding variable.
-T [level]Sets the level for tainting checks (1 if level not specified).
-vDisplays version and enables verbose mode
-wEnables verbose mode. If programfile not specified, reads from STDIN.
-x [dir]Strips text before #!ruby line. Changes directory to dir before executing if dir is specified.
-X dirChanges directory before executing (equivalent to -C).
-yEnables parser debug mode.
--copyrightDisplays copyright notice.
--debugEnables debug mode (equivalent to -d).
--helpDisplays an overview of command-line options (equivalent to -h).
--versionDisplays version.
--verboseEnables verbose mode (equivalent to -v). Sets $VERBOSE to true
--yydebugEnables parser debug mode (equivalent to -y).

Ruby Environment Variables:

Ruby interpreter uses the following environment variables to control its behavior. The ENV object contains a list of all the current environment variables set.
VariableDescription
DLN_LIBRARY_PATHSearch path for dynamically loaded modules.
HOMEDirectory moved to when no argument is passed to Dir::chdir. Also used by File::expand_path to expand "~".
LOGDIRDirectory moved to when no arguments are passed to Dir::chdir and environment variable HOME isn't set.
PATHSearch path for executing subprocesses and searching for Ruby programs with the -S option. Separate each path with a colon (semicolon in DOS and Windows).
RUBYLIBSearch path for libraries. Separate each path with a colon (semicolon in DOS and Windows).
RUBYLIB_PREFIXUsed to modify the RUBYLIB search path by replacing prefix of library path1 with path2 using the format path1;path2 or path1path2.
RUBYOPTCommand-line options passed to Ruby interpreter. Ignored in taint mode (Where $SAFE is greater than 0).
RUBYPATHWith -S option, search path for Ruby programs. Takes precedence over PATH. Ignored in taint mode (where $SAFE is greater than 0).
RUBYSHELLSpecifies shell for spawned processes. If not set, SHELL or COMSPEC are checked.

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