From: "Ara.T.Howard" <Ara.T.Howard@...>
Date: 2005-08-10T12:11:10+09:00
Subject: Re: NEWBIE QUESTION: pattern with nil

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005, basi wrote:

> Hello,
> I'm a bit tired typing:
>
> if a == "" or a == nil
> if a != "" and a !== nil
>
> I'm sure there is a Ruby way to do this.
>
> Thanks for the help.
> basi

i generally use

   harp:~ > cat a.rb
   a = 'foobar'
   p 42 unless a.nil? or a.empty?

   a = nil
   p 42 unless a.nil? or a.empty?

   harp:~ > ruby a.rb
   42

because the meaning is very clear.  for shorter i use

   harp:~ > cat a.rb
   a = 'foobar'
   p 42 unless a.to_s.empty?

   a = nil
   p 42 unless a.to_s.empty?

   harp:~ > ruby a.rb
   42


cheers.

-a
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