Include the English library file in a Ruby script, and you can
reference the global variables such as \VAR{\$\_} using less
cryptic names, listed in the following table.% \vref{tab:english}.
Without 'English':
$\ = ' -- '
"waterbuffalo" =~ /buff/
print $', $$, "\n"
With English:
require "English"
$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR = ' -- '
"waterbuffalo" =~ /buff/
print $POSTMATCH, $PID, "\n"
Below is a full list of descriptive aliases and their associated global
variable:
$ERROR_INFO:: $!
$ERROR_POSITION:: $@
$FS:: $;
$FIELD_SEPARATOR:: $;
$OFS:: $,
$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR:: $,
$RS:: $/
$INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR:: $/
$ORS:: $\
$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR:: $\
$INPUT_LINE_NUMBER:: $.
$NR:: $.
$LAST_READ_LINE:: $_
$DEFAULT_OUTPUT:: $>
$DEFAULT_INPUT:: $<
$PID:: $$
$PROCESS_ID:: $$
$CHILD_STATUS:: $?
$LAST_MATCH_INFO:: $~
$IGNORECASE:: $=
$ARGV:: $*
$MATCH:: $&
$PREMATCH:: $`
$POSTMATCH:: $'
$LAST_PAREN_MATCH:: $+