From: schneik@... Date: 2000-03-23T13:57:24-06:00 Subject: [ruby-talk:02116] Re: ARGF or $< Hugh Sasse wrote: > On Fri, 24 Mar 2000, ARIMA Yasuhiro wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > Hugh Sasse Staff Elec Eng wrote > > > > | Ah, so it is an Array of lines of the concatenated input files. > > | Effectively, anyway. This was not clear from the description: > > | > > | >> The virtual concatenation file of the files given by command line > > | >> arguments, or stdin (in case no > > | >> argument file supplied). $<.file returns the current > > | >> filename. (Mnemonic: $< is a shell input source.) > > > > If you write the paragraph, how do ? > > Having seen the different answers, I can see that it is more than > just a list of lines. The problem I had with this paragraph is that > it says "the virtual concatenation file" but it is not of class File. > > I would say something like: > > > The concatenation of all the files given as command line arguments, or > stdin (in the case where there are no arguments), but the object is > not of class file. It is an Object with the following methods: > > each gives you each line of the concatenated file > each_line is the same as each > each_byte gives you each byte of the concatenated file > file gives you the name of the file being processed > fileno ... > ... ... > > > That way you can see what can be done with the object. Does that > suggestion seem useful? It make the documentation bigger, though! I think this (plus the latest suggestion by Dave Thomas) is a big improvement. Conrad Schneiker (This note is unofficial and subject to improvement without notice.)