Ruby check if nil before calling method

Question

I have a string in Ruby on which I\'m calling the strip method to remove the leading and trailing whitespace. e.g.

s = \"12345 \"
s.strip

H

Answer 1

To complete the options shown here, there is the "Existence Check Shorthand", recommended in the Ruby Style Guide:

Use &&= to preprocess variables that may or may not exist. Using &&= will change the value only if it exists [means, is not nil], removing the need to check its existence with if.

So in your case you would do:

s = "12345 "
s &&= s.strip