From: James Edward Gray II <james@...>
Date: 2006-08-15T23:34:40+09:00
Subject: Re: Trouble parsing against a hash

On Aug 15, 2006, at 9:18 AM, Peter Bailey wrote:

> James Gray wrote:
>> On Aug 15, 2006, at 8:14 AM, Peter Bailey wrote:
>>
>>> You mean, it's because I was simply missing quotes around my "#{}"
>>> expression that it was regarded as a comment? Well, I guess I can
>>> certainly understand that. Thanks a lot.
>>
>> Right.  But never use:
>>
>>    "#{var}"
>>
>> because that's just a confusing way to say:
>>
>>    var.to_s
>>
>> And if the variable is already a String, you really just want:
>>
>>    var
>>
>> James Edward Gray II
>
> OK. I'm a bit confused, though. I've been using #{var} for quite a  
> while
> now. I thought it was needed when getting a variable within a  
> block. Is
> it when it's in double quotes that you suggest not using it?

As we have said, #{ .. } is only used inside double-quoted Strings.   
You don't need it anywhere else.

You use it to interpolate some value into a String.  For example:

   "1 + 2 = #{1 + 2}"

or:

   var = 2
   "1, #{var}, 3, ..."

When used like that, you are fine.  That's what it's for.

However, if you ever type *just* that it a String, you didn't need  
the String:

   "#{var}"  # => same as var.to_s or just var, if it is a String

Hope that makes more sense.

James Edward Gray II