# Best way for ruby to query subversion **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [June 13, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-way-for-ruby-to-query-subversion/63257 "2006-06-13T16:58:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tobycatlin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5e9695/32.png) [@tobycatlin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tobycatlin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-way-for-ruby-to-query-subversion/63257/1 "2006-06-13T16:58:51Z")
Hello everybody, I am writing a script to list files that are in a subversion repository. I am only spiking at the moment but am having trouble. Basically i want to execute the svn command “svn list svn://ci.firstconsult.com/fc\_codebase” and display what is returned. I have looked at using system() but this simply returns true or false upon execution. As you can tell i am pretty new to the ruby game but i am sure there is a simple elegant way of doing this. thanks for any help toby ---
**Author:** ![tobycatlin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5e9695/32.png) [@tobycatlin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tobycatlin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-way-for-ruby-to-query-subversion/63257/2 "2006-06-13T19:17:45Z")
On 6/13/06, Toby C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > As you can tell i am pretty new to the ruby game but i am sure there is > a simple elegant way of doing this. > > thanks for any help To capture the output, use backquotes: results = `svn list > svn://ci.firstconsult.com/fc_codebase` Other options explained here: [http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/vframe.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/191009?190859-192450](http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/vframe.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/191009?190859-192450) ---
**Author:** ![tobycatlin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5e9695/32.png) [@tobycatlin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tobycatlin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-way-for-ruby-to-query-subversion/63257/3 "2006-06-13T19:24:22Z")
## One option: [http://rscm.rubyforge.org/](http://rscm.rubyforge.org/) John-Mason Shackelford Software Developer Pearson Educational Measurement 2510 North Dodge St. Iowa City, IA 52245 ph. 319-354-9200x6214 removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [http://pearsonedmeasurement.com](http://pearsonedmeasurement.com) ---
**Author:** ![tobycatlin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5e9695/32.png) [@tobycatlin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tobycatlin)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 10:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-way-for-ruby-to-query-subversion/63257/4 "2006-06-16T10:13:54Z")
Toby C. wrote: > As you can tell i am pretty new to the ruby game but i am sure there is > a simple elegant way of doing this. > > thanks for any help > > toby If you are just listing it might not be worth using the bindings, but I think newer versions of subversion come with ruby bindings. (Although you might need to compile them if it isn’t part of the regular build…) That will give you a lot more flexibility. For info on getting the bindings setup or to see example code checkout the collaboa project. [http://collaboa.org](http://collaboa.org) -Jeff