From: Gary Wright <gwtmp01@...>
Date: 2012-02-21T10:35:38+09:00
Subject: Re: Accessing a local variable through a symbol


On Feb 20, 2012, at 8:13 PM, Darryl L. Pierce wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 8:03 PM, Ralph Shnelvar <ralphs@dos32.com> wrote:
>> Darryl,
>> 
>> Monday, February 20, 2012, 1:57:53 PM, you wrote:
>> 
>> DLP> On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Ralph Shnelvar <ralphs@dos32.com> wrote:
>>>> local_variables delivers a list of symbols of the local variables.  I'm trying to access the underlying values associated with that list.
>> 
>> DLP> def foo
>> DLP>   x = 5
>> DLP>   y = 9
>> DLP>   z = 9
>> 
>> DLP>   local_variables.each { |varname| puts "#{varname} evaluates to
>> DLP> #{eval varname}"}
>> DLP> end
>> 
>> DLP> Try that.
>> 
>> I get
>>  in `eval': can't convert Symbol into String (TypeError)
> 
> I didn't use any symbols. Please post the exact code you're using.


In 1.9.X versions of Ruby, local_variables returns a list of symbols.  In older versions it returns the names as strings.

>> a = 3 #=> 3
>> b = 4 #=> 4
>> local_variables.each { |n| puts "#{n} is #{eval n.to_s}" } #=> [:b, :a]
b is 4
a is 3

Gary Wright