From: Yukihiro Matsumoto <matz@...>
Date: 2007-11-27T11:32:18+09:00
Subject: Re: FEATURE SUGGESTION: Accept default value for to_f and to_i

Hi,

In message "Re: FEATURE SUGGESTION: Accept default value for to_f and to_i"
    on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:15:19 +0900, Mr Magpie <gazmcgheesubs@yahoo.com.au> writes:

|I suggest that to_i() and to_f() have an optional parameter added with
|the default value of 0 (for backwards compatibility).
|
|This would allow code like
|
|if astring.to_f(nil)
|  # valid, so use it
|else
|  # not a valid float, nil was returned, so handle error
|end

I think Float(astring) that raises an exception for invalid string can
do the work for you.

|It would allow even more succinct code when, say, reading in a
|configuration value :
|delay = configuration['delay'].to_f(DEFAULT_DELAY)

Try

  delay = Float(configuration['delay']) rescue DEFAULT_DELAY

							matz.