Ruby: “if !object.nil?” or “if object”

Question

Are they the same when used in an if/else/end statement? What do you usually do? I\'m wondering if there are any subtle differences or edge cases where ob

Answer 1

There is one and only one case in which !object.nil? and object evaluate to different results in a boolean context and that is if object is false. In all other situations the result is the same.

With this, I think we can answer your real question (which is: Is there any situation where I must use if !object.nil? instead of just if object when protecting against object being nil?):

No, you can always use if object if you want to check against nil.