From: Zach Dennis <zdennis@...>
Date: 2003-11-27T04:01:52+09:00
Subject: Re: defining a 'puts' or a 'print' for a class

Thanks again Mark!

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark J. Reed [mailto:markjreed@mail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 1:57 PM
To: ruby-talk ML
Subject: Re: defining a 'puts' or a 'print' for a class


On Thu, Nov 27, 2003 at 03:48:58AM +0900, Zach Dennis wrote:
> But I would love to say:
> 
> puts Email
> 
> to get the same result.
> 
> Any ideas?

Define a 'to_s' method.

	irb(main):001:0> class Point
	irb(main):002:1>     def initialize(x, y)
	irb(main):003:2>         @x, @y = x, y
	irb(main):004:2>     end
	irb(main):005:1> 
	irb(main):006:1*     def to_s
	irb(main):007:2>         '(' + @x.to_s + ', ' + @y.to_s + ')'
	irb(main):008:2>     end
	irb(main):009:1> end  
	=> nil
	irb(main):010:0> p = Point.new(3,4)
	=> #<Point:0x400a3d00 @y=4, @x=3>
	irb(main):011:0> puts p
	(3, 4)
	=> nil

If you also want your custom string form to show up in the irb inspection
(after the =>), define 'inspect', too:

	irb(main):011:0> class Point
	irb(main):012:1> def inspect; to_s; end
	irb(main):013:1> end
	=> nil
	irb(main):014:0> p
	=> (3, 4)
	irb(main):015:0> 

-Mark