From: Brad <BCoish@...>
Date: 2003-12-31T23:26:47+09:00
Subject: Overriding to_s

All:

This is probably going to seem a bit silly, however I will ask 
anyway. :)

Is there a way to override the to_s method such that it takes a
parameter?  For example, if I wanted to provide a format specifier 
for a number:

    class Numeric
        def to_s(optFormat)
            if !optFormat.nil?
                # format a string based on the optFormat format  
                # specifier.
                retVal = format_number(self,optFormat)
            else
                retVal = self.to_s
            end
            retVal
        end
    end

    payment=600   # $6.00
    puts(payment.to_s('$#.##')) 

(* not a perfect specimen of a ruby script, but it gets the 
   idea across *)

Any help with this matter, is greatly appreciated. :)

Regards,
Brad