From: Hal Fulton <hal9000@...>
Date: 2003-09-04T14:45:08+09:00
Subject: Re: Multiple gsub statements in one line possible?

Kurt Euler wrote:
> All-
> 
> For the string called pkg_bug_base, I'm currently using the following code to make some substitutions:
> 
>   pkg_bug_base.gsub!(/<sp_num>/, sp_num_string)
>   pkg_bug_base.gsub!(/<rel_num>/, rel_num)
> 
> Question: Is there a way to put this all on one line? I tried this, but the code crashed here:
> 
>   pkg_bug_base.gsub!(/<sp_num>/, sp_num_string).gsub!(/<rel_num>/, rel_num)

What probably happened s that the first gsub! didn't actually change
anything. In that case, it returns nil. This is a feature that
allows you to test whether anything was changed. Unfortunately, it
also prevents safe chaining.

I'll bet your error was that nil doesn't have a gsub! method or
something like that. If so, this is what happened.

Hal