CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyliterals
Sarah
Sarah

Reputation: 63

Why are different delimiters used in percent notation?

I have seen different people use different types of braces/brackets for this. I tried them out in script console, and they all work. Why do they all work and does it matter which is used?

%w|one two|
%w{one two}
%w[one two]
%w(one two)

Actually, much more varaiety of characters can be used. Any non-alphanumeric character except = can be used.

%w!a!
%w@b@
%w#c#
%w$d$
%w%e%
%w^f^
%w&g&
%w*h*
%w(i)
%w_j_
%w-k-
%w+l+
%w\m\
%w|n|
%w`o`
%w~p~
%w[q]
%w{r}
%w;s;
%w:t:
%w'u'
%w"v"
%w,w,
%w<x>
%w.y.
%w/z/
%w?aa?

Upvotes: 6

Views: 281

Answers (3)

Mori
Mori

Reputation: 27789

No difference. The reason for the flexibility is so that you can pick delimiters that won't appear within your %w() string.

Upvotes: 10

ChuckJHardy
ChuckJHardy

Reputation: 7066

There is no difference, just a personal preference for multiline strings. Some people like to use...

<<eos
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor 
    incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud.
eos

As long as the beginning and end are the same then you are fine.

Upvotes: 0

hammar
hammar

Reputation: 139860

You get to choose your own delimiter. Pick the one that saves you from having to escape characters.

Upvotes: 5

Related Questions