From: vasudevram <vasudevram@...>
Date: 2007-06-14T04:35:04+09:00
Subject: Re: Default IRB Directory

On Jun 14, 12:22 am, vasudevram <vasudev...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 13, 10:04 am, Rpg Action <rpgact...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm new to Ruby, and I've never used a similar language that could be
> > executed from the command line, so I'm pretty clueless in these first
> > couple of steps, and I hope that you'll help me here.
>
> > Is there a way under Windows that I can set the default IRB directory to
> > a specific folder? Right now the default is C:\, and I've no idea how to
> > go about changing it.
>
> > --
> > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
> Create a shortcut on the Windows Desktop for IRB using Windows
> Explorer.
> Then right-click on the shortcut and in the dialog that pops up, look
> for the field labeled "Start in" (not sure of the exact label for the
> field, not at my PC now, but in the dialog the label/field should be
> evident/self-explanatory). In that field, enter the name of the folder
> that you want IRB to start in.
>
> But sorry, this won't help you if you want to run IRB from the command
> line - from a DOS command prompy, that is. You'll have to double-click
> on the shortcut on the Desktop for this technique to work.
>
> One way to make this work from the command line is to create a batch
> file called, say, irb0.bat (or any suitable name), and in that file,
> put these lines:
>
> @echo off
> cd your_folder_name here
> irb
>
> Then put that file irb0.bat in some folder which is in your PATH, and
> run it from any folder when you are in a DOS window. It should do what
> you want.
>
> Or, if you want to come back to the directory from which you run the
> irb0 file (after the batch file terminates - since the version shown
> above will leave you in the your_folder_name folder), change the "cd"
> in the 2nd line of the batch file to "pushd" and add a line "popd"
> below the line "irb".
>
> Not tested as I'm not at my PC but looks correct to me.
>
> P.S. If you want to pass arguments to irb, change the "irb" line to:
>
> irb %1 %2 %3 (and so on upto %9)
>
> Then you can pass upto 9 command-line arguments to irb0 when you call
> it, and those will be passed on to irb.
>
> Vasudev Ram
> http://www.dancingbison.com

P.S. I wrote too soon. It looks to me like there's a much simpler way
to do it. From your description it looks like you're not familiar with
the DOS prompt. The default folder for IRB is not C:\ - it is whatever
folder you run the irb command from. So you just have to do a "cd" to
the folder you want to work in, then run the irb (no need for the
irb0.bat) command there.

E.g.:

cd /d c:\my\folder\name\wherever\it\is
irb

(The /d changes the drive as well, to C:, in case you were at a
different drive when you gave the command.)
It would be a good idea to learn more about the DOS prompt and DOS
commands - Google for "DOS tutorial", "DOS commands", and variations
of the same.

Also type "help" at a DOS prompt. Do it like this:

C:\> help > dos_help.txt
Then open the file dos_help.txt in a text editor and read it.

For most DOS commands, you can use "help command", e.g. "help dir", or
"dir /?" to get some help on them.

If you want to work with irb, or the ruby command from the command-
line (DOS prompt), its pretty much necessary to have some basic DOS
knowledge. Not everything can be done from GUI's alone ...


Vasudev Ram
http://www.dancingbison.com