From: James Masters <james.d.masters@...>
Date: 2010-05-06T11:20:08+09:00
Subject: Re: How can I call String#replace (rb_str_replace()) in C API?

> > How can I do this with the Ruby C API?  I looked at rb_str_replace in
> > string.c; however, that is not a public function in the C API.  After
>
> Are you using ruby 1.8 or 1.9? 1.9 makes rb_str_replace non-static and
> declares it in intern.h. I don't see it in 1.8's intern.h, so its very

Unfortunately I am using Ruby 1.8.

> > I'm really just looking for a way to take a Ruby string VALUE and
> > replace the contents of that object with a C string in the most
> > efficient method possible.  Can someone help me in doing this or at
> > least point me in the right direction?
>
> One other option is to fiddle directly with the fields of struct
> RString, but I don't recommend that unless you're really dedicated.

I am thinking about doing this but it would be a pain and probably
dangerous as you have mentioned.  I can probably put something
together with good performance by tweaking the pointer location and
string length but I'll need to get more familiar with the Ruby code
before I attempt something like this.  One good thing is that I am
creating the Ruby string to be used as the replacement myself in the C+
+ code on my own so I shouldn't need to do type checking.  If anyone
has any pointers on where to find some of the underlying Ruby C data
structures (e.g. ELTS_SHARED and STR_ASSOC flags) then I could use it.

Thanks for your reply... it was helpful to at least confirm the issue
at hand.