From: "Michael W. Ryder" <_mwryder@...>
Date: 2009-03-14T10:42:49+09:00
Subject: Re: Problem With eval and each_index

Michael W. Ryder wrote:
> I am trying to set a group of variables to values stored in a tab 
> delimited string.  I have no problem splitting the string into an array, 
> call it e, or in putting the variable names in a second array, call it 
> v.  The problem arises when I try to merge the two together.  If I enter:
> irb(main):073:0> p v
> ["name", "street", "city", "state", "zip", "*", "telephone"]
> => nil
> irb(main):074:0> p e
> ["John Doe", "123 Main St", "Anywhere", "US", "01234-5678", "ab123", 
> "1234567890"]
> => nil
> irb(main):075:0> eval "#{v[0]} = e[0]"
> => "John Doe"
> irb(main):076:0> p name
> "John Doe"
> => nil
> 
> it works as I want.  But when I try:
> irb(main):077:0> v.each_index {|i| eval "#{v[i]} = e[0]"}
> => ["name", "street", "city", "state", "zip", "*", "telephone"]
> 
> and then enter: puts zip
> it returns with a NameError saying that the variable was undefined.
> 
> Am I missing something, or should I be trying a different method to 
> accomplish this?

I just noticed that the above method does set name to "John Doe" which 
makes it even more confusing for me.