[ruby-talk:03368] Re: chomp!

>>> [e-mail] 6/13/00 10:11a >>>
"David Douthitt" <[e-mail]> writes:

>> I was looking at the documentation for chomp and chomp! - and the
>> results of chomp startled me to say the least.

>Maybe, but it wouldn't be 'chomp'. Chomp removes the given
>string (defaulting to a newline) from the end of another string
>(in this case $_). It's typically used to remove newlines from
>stuff you read in:

>This is a a bone unashamedly thrown to the Perl converts.

Like me :-)

I would have described chomp and chomp! as removing a new line,
if present, otherwise not affecting the string at all.

This is what it does in Perl 5.  In Perl 4, one used chop - which removed
the last character (new line or not! :-)

>> Also, the description for chomp! appears to be the same as for chomp
>> - which it is not after CAREFUL examination.

>chomp:
>       Equivalent to $_.chomp!(aString), except nil is never
>       returned. If $_ is changed, the new version is returned,
>       otherwise a copy of the original value is returned. See
>       String#chomp! on page 1.

>chomp!:
>       Equivalent to $_.chomp!(aString). See String#chomp! 

>Am I missing something--I'm keen to make these reference
>pages as accurate as possible.

I was referring to the "See String#chomp!" on page 1.  Unless you remember
that you are ACTUALLY reading about Kernel#chomp and Kernel#chomp!
it is easy to get confused and think that the description of Kernel#chomp!
actually is String#chomp! - - see?

Thanks for all your hard work!  So when do we get to read it?