From: Joel VanderWerf <vjoel@...>
Date: 2005-03-20T14:57:19+09:00
Subject: Re: Variable scoping

Xiangrong Fang wrote:
...
> In most other languages, a variable defined in the "parent" name space
> of a function will be visible to the function. This is not the case in
> Ruby.  Now my question is, how can I do this in the Ruby Way:
> 
> def min(*params)
>   _min = nil
>   params.each do |p|
>     next if p.nil?
>     if _min.nil? or eval(p) < eval(_min) then
>       _min = p
>     end
>   end
>   return _min
> end
> a = 1
> b = 2
> c = 3
> d = 4
> puts min("a", "b", "c", "d")
> 
> Purpose of this function is to get the NAME of the variable that has
> minimum value.

It's possible:

a=b=c=d=nil

(class << self; self; end).send :define_method, :min do |*params|
   _min = nil
   params.each do |p|
     next if p.nil?
     if _min.nil? or eval(p) < eval(_min) then
       _min = p
     end
   end
   return _min
end

a = 1
b = 2
c = 3
d = 4
puts min("a", "b", "c", "d")

But why are you interested in the name of a variable?