Ruby - print the variable name and then its value

Question

What is the best way to write a function (or something DSLish) that will allow me to write this code in Ruby. How would I construct the function write_pair?

Answer 1

If it's possible for you to use a symbol instead of the variable name, you could do something like this:

def wp (s, &b)
  puts "#{s} = #{eval(s.to_s, b.binding)}"
end

In use:

irb(main):001:0> def wp (s, &b)
irb(main):002:1>   puts "#{s} = #{eval(s.to_s, b.binding)}"
irb(main):003:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):004:0> var = 3
=> 3
irb(main):005:0> wp(:var) {}
var = 3

Note that you must pass the empty block {} to the method or it cannot get the binding to evaluate the symbol.