Class: Symbol

Inherits:
Object show all
Includes:
Comparable
Defined in:
string.c,
string.c

Overview

********************************************************************

<code>Symbol</code> objects represent names and some strings
inside the Ruby
interpreter. They are generated using the <code>:name</code> and
<code>:"string"</code> literals
syntax, and by the various <code>to_sym</code> methods. The same
<code>Symbol</code> object will be created for a given name or string
for the duration of a program's execution, regardless of the context
or meaning of that name. Thus if <code>Fred</code> is a constant in
one context, a method in another, and a class in a third, the
<code>Symbol</code> <code>:Fred</code> will be the same object in
all three contexts.

   module One
     class Fred
     end
     $f1 = :Fred
   end
   module Two
     Fred = 1
     $f2 = :Fred
   end
   def Fred()
   end
   $f3 = :Fred
   $f1.object_id   #=> 2514190
   $f2.object_id   #=> 2514190
   $f3.object_id   #=> 2514190

Class Method Summary collapse

Instance Method Summary collapse

Methods included from Comparable

#<, #<=, #>, #>=, #between?

Class Method Details

.all_symbols ⇒ Array

Returns an array of all the symbols currently in Ruby’s symbol table.

Symbol.all_symbols.size    #=> 903
Symbol.all_symbols[1,20]   #=> [:floor, :ARGV, :Binding, :symlink,
                                :chown, :EOFError, :$;, :String,
                                :LOCK_SH, :"setuid?", :$<,
                                :default_proc, :compact, :extend,
                                :Tms, :getwd, :$=, :ThreadGroup,
                                :wait2, :$>]

Returns:



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# File 'symbol.c', line 812

VALUE
rb_sym_all_symbols(void)
{
    VALUE ary = rb_ary_new2(global_symbols.str_sym->num_entries);
    st_foreach(global_symbols.str_sym, symbols_i, ary);
    return ary;
}

Instance Method Details

#<=>(other_symbol) ⇒ -1, ...

Compares symbol with other_symbol after calling #to_s on each of the symbols. Returns -1, 0, +1 or nil depending on whether symbol is less than, equal to, or greater than other_symbol.

+nil+ is returned if the two values are incomparable.

See String#<=> for more information.

Returns:

  • (-1, 0, +1, nil) 


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# File 'string.c', line 9186

static VALUE
sym_cmp(VALUE sym, VALUE other)
{
    if (!SYMBOL_P(other)) {
	return Qnil;
    }
    return rb_str_cmp_m(rb_sym2str(sym), rb_sym2str(other));
}

#== ⇒ Object

#=== ⇒ Object

#=~(obj) ⇒ Fixnum? #match(obj) ⇒ Fixnum?

Returns sym.to_s =~ obj.

Overloads:



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# File 'string.c', line 9220

static VALUE
sym_match(VALUE sym, VALUE other)
{
    return rb_str_match(rb_sym2str(sym), other);
}

#[](idx) ⇒ String #[](b, n) ⇒ String #slice(idx) ⇒ String #slice(b, n) ⇒ String

Returns sym.to_s[].

Overloads:



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# File 'string.c', line 9236

static VALUE
sym_aref(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_aref_m(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

#capitalize ⇒ Object

Same as sym.to_s.capitalize.intern.



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# File 'string.c', line 9302

static VALUE
sym_capitalize(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_capitalize(rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

#casecmp(other) ⇒ -1, ...

Case-insensitive version of Symbol#<=>.

Returns:

  • (-1, 0, +1, nil) 


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# File 'string.c', line 9203

static VALUE
sym_casecmp(VALUE sym, VALUE other)
{
    if (!SYMBOL_P(other)) {
	return Qnil;
    }
    return rb_str_casecmp(rb_sym2str(sym), rb_sym2str(other));
}

#downcase ⇒ Object

Same as sym.to_s.downcase.intern.



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# File 'string.c', line 9289

static VALUE
sym_downcase(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_downcase(rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

#empty? ⇒ Boolean

Returns that sym is :“” or not.

Returns:

  • (Boolean)

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


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# File 'string.c', line 9263

static VALUE
sym_empty(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_empty(rb_sym2str(sym));
}

#encoding ⇒ Encoding

Returns the Encoding object that represents the encoding of sym.

Returns:



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# File 'string.c', line 9328

static VALUE
sym_encoding(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_obj_encoding(rb_sym2str(sym));
}

#id2name ⇒ String #to_s ⇒ String

Returns the name or string corresponding to sym.

:fred.id2name   #=> "fred"

Overloads:



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# File 'string.c', line 9107

VALUE
rb_sym_to_s(VALUE sym)
{
    return str_new_shared(rb_cString, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

#inspect ⇒ String

Returns the representation of sym as a symbol literal.

:fred.inspect   #=> ":fred"

Returns:



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# File 'string.c', line 9069

static VALUE
sym_inspect(VALUE sym)
{
    VALUE str = rb_sym2str(sym);
    const char *ptr;
    long len;
    char *dest;

    if (!rb_str_symname_p(str)) {
	str = rb_str_inspect(str);
	len = RSTRING_LEN(str);
	rb_str_resize(str, len + 1);
	dest = RSTRING_PTR(str);
	memmove(dest + 1, dest, len);
    }
    else {
	rb_encoding *enc = STR_ENC_GET(str);
	RSTRING_GETMEM(str, ptr, len);
	str = rb_enc_str_new(0, len + 1, enc);
	dest = RSTRING_PTR(str);
	memcpy(dest + 1, ptr, len);
    }
    dest[0] = ':';
    return str;
}

#to_sym ⇒ Object #intern ⇒ Object

In general, to_sym returns the Symbol corresponding to an object. As sym is already a symbol, self is returned in this case.



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# File 'string.c', line 9124

static VALUE
sym_to_sym(VALUE sym)
{
    return sym;
}

#length ⇒ Integer #size ⇒ Integer

Same as sym.to_s.length.

Overloads:



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# File 'string.c', line 9250

static VALUE
sym_length(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_length(rb_sym2str(sym));
}

#=~(obj) ⇒ Fixnum? #match(obj) ⇒ Fixnum?

Returns sym.to_s =~ obj.

Overloads:



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# File 'string.c', line 9220

static VALUE
sym_match(VALUE sym, VALUE other)
{
    return rb_str_match(rb_sym2str(sym), other);
}

#succ ⇒ Object

Same as sym.to_s.succ.intern.



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# File 'string.c', line 9166

static VALUE
sym_succ(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_succ(rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

#length ⇒ Integer #size ⇒ Integer

Same as sym.to_s.length.

Overloads:



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# File 'string.c', line 9250

static VALUE
sym_length(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_length(rb_sym2str(sym));
}

#[](idx) ⇒ String #[](b, n) ⇒ String #slice(idx) ⇒ String #slice(b, n) ⇒ String

Returns sym.to_s[].

Overloads:



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# File 'string.c', line 9236

static VALUE
sym_aref(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_aref_m(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

#succ ⇒ Object

Same as sym.to_s.succ.intern.



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# File 'string.c', line 9166

static VALUE
sym_succ(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_succ(rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

#swapcase ⇒ Object

Same as sym.to_s.swapcase.intern.



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# File 'string.c', line 9315

static VALUE
sym_swapcase(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_swapcase(rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

#to_proc ⇒ Object

Returns a Proc object which respond to the given method by sym.

(1..3).collect(&:to_s)  #=> ["1", "2", "3"]



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# File 'string.c', line 9152

VALUE
rb_sym_to_proc(VALUE sym)
{
}

#id2name ⇒ String #to_s ⇒ String

Returns the name or string corresponding to sym.

:fred.id2name   #=> "fred"

Overloads:



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# File 'string.c', line 9107

VALUE
rb_sym_to_s(VALUE sym)
{
    return str_new_shared(rb_cString, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

#to_sym ⇒ Object #intern ⇒ Object

In general, to_sym returns the Symbol corresponding to an object. As sym is already a symbol, self is returned in this case.



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# File 'string.c', line 9124

static VALUE
sym_to_sym(VALUE sym)
{
    return sym;
}

#upcase ⇒ Object

Same as sym.to_s.upcase.intern.



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# File 'string.c', line 9276

static VALUE
sym_upcase(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_upcase(rb_sym2str(sym)));
}