From: "David A. Black" <dblack@...>
Date: 2005-10-01T05:11:11+09:00
Subject: Re: what does *my_array do?

Hi --

On Sat, 1 Oct 2005, Shea Martin wrote:

> using tk in ruby, when I add my_array to a listbox it adds all the items as a 
> single large string.  when I add them as *my_array it puts them in correctly.
>
> I got *my_array from a example on web, but I don't know what it means.

It "un-arrays" the array, turning it back into a plain list of
objects.  For example:

   a = [3,4,5]
   b = [1,2,*a]  # [1,2,3,4,5]

as opposed to:

   b = [1,2,a]   # [1,2,[3,4,5]]

It also plays a role in method calls.  This:

   def x(*args)

is a method that can take any number of arguments (including zero),
and will store them in the array args.


David

-- 
David A. Black
dblack@wobblini.net