From: Jacob Fugal <lukfugl@...>
Date: 2005-05-19T06:47:37+09:00
Subject: Re: (newbie Q) opposite of inspect for strings

On 5/18/05, Basile Starynkevitch [news] <basile-news@starynkevitch.net> wrote:
> Sorry for having expressed myself poorly. I mean
> 
>   a="a\tb"
> 
> binds variable a to a 3 character string (a, tab, b)
> 
>   aa=a.inspect
> 
> binds variable aa to a 6 character string (dblquote, a, backslash, t,
> b, dblquote)
> 
> I'm desperately seeking a function f such that
> 
>     b = f(aa)
> 
> binds variable b to a 3 character string which is equal to the value
> of a, or I am seeking a method m such that
> 
>     c = aa.m
> 
> binds variable c to a 3 character string (a, tab, b) equal to the
> value of a.
> 
> The to_s method is not a valuable substitute for m since aa.to_s is a
> 6 character string (equal to aa)

What you probably need is eval:

  irb(main):001:0> VERSION
  => "1.8.2"
  irb(main):002:0> a = "a\tb"
  => "a\tb"
  irb(main):003:0> aa = a.inspect
  => "\"a\\tb\""
  irb(main):004:0> b = eval(aa)
  => "a\tb"
  irb(main):005:0> a == b
  => true

Of course, you want to be careful when using eval, but it should cut
it for the simple case...

Jacob Fugal