CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyirb
user1934428
user1934428

Reputation: 22356

Ruby and .irbrc : Find whether a method is defined.

I have a function in my .irbrc which basically builds together a string form certain input parameters, and then is supposed to check, whether another function with name of this string exists. I'm doing it like this

methodname = ... # Calculate a string
if respond_to?(methodname)
  ....
end

This does not work in that respond_to? returns false even in those cases where in my opinion it should return true. I have boiled down the problem to the following simple case:

I have in my .irbrc 

def foo
end
def respond_to_foo?
  respond_to?(:foo)
end
puts "Respond: #{respond_to_foo?}"

Running irb, this outputs false. I would expect it to print true instead. Still, I am able to run foo from within irb.

I guess that this has to do with the scope in which irb defines my methods. For instance, self.foo does not work (private method 'foo' called for main:Object), while send.foo does work (since it bypasses privacy). This looks like a clue to my problem, but I still can't come up with an explanation, nor find the proper way for doing my task.

Could someone enlighten me?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 96

Answers (1)

user1934428
user1934428

Reputation: 22356

To answer my own question: It just occured to me, that I could use

private_methods.include?(:foo)

This does work, but it looks a bit like a hack to me. If someone knows a better way, please let me know.

Upvotes: 1

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