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Variables, constants, and arguments

Does assignment generate a new copy of an object?

All variables and constants reference (point at) some object. (With the exception of uninitialized local variables, which reference nothing. These raise a NameError exception if used). When you assign to a variable, or initialize a constant, you set the object that the variable or constant references.

Assignment on its own therefore never creates a new copy of an object.

There’s a slightly deeper explanation in certain special cases. Instances of Fixnum, NilClass, TrueClass, and FalseClass are contained directly in variables or constants—there is no reference involved. A variable holding the number 42 or the constant true actually holds the value, and not a reference to it. Assignment therefore physically produces a copy of objects of these types. We discuss this more in Immediate and Reference Objects.

What is the scope of a local variable?

A new scope for a local variable is introduced in (1) the toplevel (main), (2) a class (or module) definition, or (3) a method definition.

var = 1         # (1)
class Demo
  var = 2       # (2)
  def method
    var = 3     # (3)
    puts "in method: var = #{var}"
  end
  puts "in class: var = #{var}"
end
puts "at top level: var = #{var}"
Demo.new.method

Produces:

in class: var = 2
at top level: var = 1
in method: var = 3

(Note that the class definition is executable code: the trace message it contains is written as the class is defined).

A block ({ ... } or do ... end) almost introduces a new scope ;-) Local variables created within a block are not accessible outside the block. However, if a local variable within the block has the same name as an existing local variable in the caller’s scope, then no new local variable is created, and you can subsequently access that variable outside the block.

a = 0
1.upto(3) do |i|
  a += i
  b = i*i
end
a  # => 6
# b is not defined here

This becomes significant when you use threading—each thread receives its own copy of the variables local to the thread’s block:

threads = []

["one", "two"].each do |name|
  threads << Thread.new do
    local_name = name
    a = 0
    3.times do |i|
      Thread.pass
      a += i
      puts "#{local_name}: #{a}"
    end
  end
end

threads.each {|t| t.join }

Might produce (in case the scheduler switches threads as hinted by Thread.pass; this depends on OS and processor):

one: 0
two: 0
one: 1
two: 1
one: 3
two: 3

while, until, and for are control structures, not blocks, so local variables within them will be accessible in the enclosing environment. loop, however, is a method and the associated block introduces a new scope.

When does a local variable become accessible?

Actually, the question may be better asked as: “at what point does Ruby work out that something is a variable?” The problem arises because the simple expression a could be either a variable or a call to a method with no parameters. To decide which is the case, Ruby looks for assignment statements. If at some point in the source prior to the use of a it sees it being assigned to, it decides to parse a as a variable, otherwise it treats it as a method. As a somewhat pathological case of this, consider this code fragment, originally submitted by Clemens Hintze:

def a
  puts "method `a' called"

  99
end

[1, 2].each do |i|
  if i == 2
    puts "a = #{a}"
  else
    a = 1
    puts "a = #{a}"
  end
end

Produces:

a = 1
method `a' called
a = 99

During the parse, Ruby sees the use of a in the first puts statement and, as it hasn’t yet seen any assignment to a, assumes that it is a method call. By the time it gets to the second puts statement, though, it has seen an assignment, and so treats a as a variable.

Note that the assignment does not have to be executed—Ruby just has to have seen it. This program does not raise an error:

a = 1 if false; a  # => nil

This issue with variables is not normally a problem. If you do bump into it, try putting an assignment such as a = nil before the first access to the variable. This has the additional benefit of speeding up the access time to local variables that subsequently appear in loops.

What is the scope of a constant?

A constant defined in a class or module definition can be accessed directly within that class’s or module’s definition.

You can directly access the constants in outer classes and modules from within nested classes and modules.

You can also directly access constants in superclasses and included modules.

Apart from these cases, you can access class and module constants using the :: operator, ModuleName::CONST1 or ClassName::CONST2.

How are arguments passed?

The actual argument is assigned to the formal argument when the method is invoked. (See assignment for more on the semantics of assignment.)

def add_one(number)
  number += 1
end

a = 1
add_one(a)  # => 2
a           # => 1

As you are passing object references, it is possible that a method may modify the contents of a mutable object passed into it.

def downer(string)
  string.downcase!
end

a = "HELLO"  # => "HELLO"
downer(a)    # => "hello"
a            # => "hello"

There is no equivalent of other language’s pass-by-reference semantics.

Does assignment to a formal argument influence the actual argument?

A formal argument is a local variable. Within a method, assigning to a formal argument simply changes the argument to reference another object.

What happens when I invoke a method via a formal argument?

All Ruby variables (including method arguments) act as references to objects. You can invoke methods in these objects to get or change the object’s state and to make the object do something. You can do this with objects passed to methods. You need to be careful when doing this, as these kinds of side effects can make programs hard to follow.

What does * prepended to an argument mean?

When used as part of a formal parameter list, the asterisk allows arbitrary numbers of arguments to be passed to a method by collecting them into an array, and assigning that array to the starred parameter.

def foo(prefix, *all)
  all.each do |element|
    puts "#{prefix}#{element}"
  end
end

foo("val = ", 1, 2, 3)

Produces:

val = 1
val = 2
val = 3

When used in a method call, * expands an array, passing its individual elements as arguments.

a = [1, 2, 3]
foo(*a)

You can prepend * to the last argument of

1. Left hand side of a multiple assignment.
2. Right hand side of a multiple assignment.
3. Definition of method formal arguments.
4. Actual arguments in a method call.
5. In when clause of case structure.

For example:

x, *y = [7, 8, 9]
x                  # => 7
y                  # => [8, 9]
x,    = [7, 8, 9]
x                  # => 7
x     = [7, 8, 9]
x                  # => [7, 8, 9]

What does & prepended to an argument mean?

If the last formal argument of a method is preceded with an ampersand (&), a block following the method call will be converted into a Proc object and assigned to the formal parameter.

If the last actual argument in a method invocation is a Proc object, you can precede its name with an ampersand to convert it into a block. The method may then use yield to call it.

def meth1(&b)
  puts b.call(9)
end

meth1 {|i| i + i }

def meth2
  puts yield(8)
end

square = proc {|i| i * i }

meth2 {|i| i + i }
meth2 &square

Produces:

18
16
64

How can I specify a default value for a formal argument?

def greet(p1="hello", p2="world")
  puts "#{p1} #{p2}"
end

greet
greet("hi")
greet("morning", "mom")

Produces:

hello world
hi world
morning mom

The default value (which can be an arbitrary expression) is evaluated when the method is invoked. It is evaluated using the scope of the method.

How do I pass arguments to a block?

The formal parameters of a block appear between vertical bars at the start of the block:

proc {|a, b| a <=> b }

These parameters are actually local variables. If an existing local variable of the same name exists when the block executes, that variable will be modified by the call to the block. This may or may not be a good thing.

Typically, arguments are passed to a block using yield (or an iterator that calls yield), or by using the Proc.call method.

Why did my object change unexpectedly?

A = a = b = "abc"
b.concat("d")  # => "abcd"
a              # => "abcd"
A              # => "abcd"

Variables hold references to objects. The assignment A = a = b = "abc" puts a reference to the string "abc" into A, a, and b.

When you call b.concat("d"), you invoke the concat method on that object, changing it from "abc" to "abcd". Because a and A also reference that same object, their apparent values change too.

This is less of a problem in practice than it might appear.

In addition, all objects may be frozen, protecting them from change.

Does the value of a constant ever change?

A constant is a variable whose name starts with an upper case letter. Constants may not be reassigned from within instance methods, but can otherwise be changed at will. When a constant is assigned a new value, a warning is issued.

Why can’t I load variables from a separate file?

Say file1.rb contains:

var1 = 99

and some other file loads it in:

require_relative "file1"
puts var1

Produces:

prog.rb:2:in `<main>': undefined local variable or method `var1' for main:Object (NameError)

You get an error because load and require arrange for local variables to be stored into a separate, anonymous namespace, effectively discarding them. This is designed to protect your code from being polluted.

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