From: Matma Rex <matma.rex@...>
Date: 2013-01-04T04:57:04+09:00
Subject: Re: :@fudgeKittens, the use of ':' with '@'

On Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:45:44 +0100, Ricky Ng <dummey@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have run into some code that widely uses symbols with the '@' sign.
> Example: :@enable.
>
> Is this considered legal syntax?


Yes, :@enable creates a symbol for "@enable". This is the same as "@enable".to_sym, valid, and useful if you need to access instance variables of a class using instance_variable_get, as it takes a symbol argument.

I think the syntax is allowed specifically for this case, similarly to how you can have constructs like :== or :<=> for appropriate symbols, to be used in other contexts as method names.