From: dblack@...
Date: 2006-03-26T23:44:01+09:00
Subject: Re: Noob: use of the double colon

Hi --

On Sun, 26 Mar 2006, Jonathan Leighton wrote:

> While we're on the topic -- I've never exactly understood what placing
> the double colon at the beginning does? eg...
>
> ::FooModule::FOO_CONSTANT
>
> ?

It forces a top-level lookup.  For example:

   class M
     class String
     end

     def initialize
       @ms = String.new            # this will be M::String
       @str = ::String.new("abc")  # this will be top-level string
     end
   end

It's like a / at the beginning of a file path.


David

-- 
David A. Black (dblack@wobblini.net)
Ruby Power and Light, LLC (http://www.rubypowerandlight.com)

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