From: "ajack (Jack Weeden)" Date: 2013-04-19T02:10:13+09:00 Subject: [ruby-core:54434] [ruby-trunk - Feature #8262] Confusing "undefined method" exception when using - operator on a string Issue #8262 has been updated by ajack (Jack Weeden). OK, this makes perfect sense now! I'd never come across the "-@" syntax for unary operators. Thanks! ---------------------------------------- Feature #8262: Confusing "undefined method" exception when using - operator on a string https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/8262#change-38712 Author: ajack (Jack Weeden) Status: Open Priority: Normal Assignee: Category: core Target version: When trying to use the minus operator (-) on a String, Ruby reports the following exception: > -"5" > NoMethodError: undefined method `-@' for "5":String I'm not sure if this is intended behaviour but it was confusing as it led me to believe I was trying to call `-@"5"` rather than `-"5"` (I realise the minus operator is invalid for a String but I was looking all over for somewhere I'd accidentally typed in an "@" symbol, rather than somewhere I was just trying to call `-"5"`) Applies to Ruby 1.8.7, 1.9.3 and 2.0.0 -- http://bugs.ruby-lang.org/