From: Olivier Renaud <o.renaud@...>
Date: 2007-09-01T19:52:21+09:00
Subject: Re: Is there an online reference for dollar ($) variables?

Le samedi 01 septembre 2007 04:24, Larry Fast a écrit :
> Is there an online reference that describes all the Ruby $... variables?
> Are there any search engines that allow you to search for something like
> $: ? Is there anything in the Rdocs?
>
> Personally, I'm very happy with the list of $... variables found in the
> 2nd edition of Ruby Programming. However a few of my colleagues do not
> have a copy of this book.  While I try to avoid using them there are
> times when it's almost unavoidable. For example, I haven't found any way
> to append new directories to the Load Path $: within my Ruby code
> (specifically my Rakefile).
>
> Thanks,
> Larry

You also may take a look at the 'English' library, from the stdlib 
(http://ruby-doc.org/stdlib/). It gives explicit names to the predefined 
global variables. At the same time, it's a good resource for describing their 
meanings.

eg :
$!  ->  $ERROR_INFO
$@  ->  $ERROR_POSITION
$_  ->  $LAST_READ_LINE

-- 
Olivier Renaud