From: Paul Rubel <rubel@...>
Date: 2001-09-19T22:38:39+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:21388] ANN: FormatR 0.9

Hello,
 ruby-talk:20561 inspired me to attempt perl-like formats in ruby. I've
been working on it for a bit and believe I now have something useful to
share. 
You can find out about and download the module here:
 http://www.crhc.uiuc.edu/~rubel/FormatR.html 

 Currently I pass in Kernel.binding whenever I want to print a
format. This seems reasonable but is there a better way?

 I'd like to thank everyone from the list for their help and inspiration.
The ruby community is a great one.
   thank you,
	 Paul

-----

Class Format in module FormatR provides perl like formats for ruby. 
These are used to create output with a similar format but with changing
values. 

For example:
    require "format.rb"
    include FormatR

    top_ex = <<DOT
       Piggy Locations for @<< @#, @###
                         month, day, year
     
    Number: location              toe size
    -------------------------------------------
    DOT
     
    ex = <<TOD
    @)      @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<       @#.##
    num,    location,             toe_size
    TOD
     
    top_fmt = Format.new(top_ex) 
    body_fmt = Format.new(ex)
     
    body_fmt.setTop(top_fmt)
    num = 1
     
    month = "Sep"
    day = 18
    year = 2001
    ["Market", "Home", "Eating Roast Beef", "Having None", "On the way
home"].each {|location|
        toe_size = (num * 3.5)
        body_fmt.printFormat(binding)
        num += 1
    }

                                  
When run produces the following output:
       Piggy Locations for Sep 18, 2001
    
    Number: location              toe size
    -------------------------------------------
    1)      Market                   3.50
    2)      Home                     7.00
    3)      Eating Roast Beef       10.50
    4)      Having None             14.00
    5)      On the way home         17.50