# Block comments syntax **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [December 25, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065 "2005-12-25T12:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/1 "2005-12-25T12:54:18Z")
Hello, It says at [http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyFromC](http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyFromC) that I can do block comment in Ruby like so: =begin my comment =end However, when I try to I get a syntax error. Why is this? How can I do it? Many Thanks ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/2 "2005-12-25T13:39:24Z")
On Sun, 25 Dec 2005, Jonathan L. wrote: > it? > I don’t see an error: wybo\>cat t =begin my comment =end puts ‘hello’ wybo\>ruby t hello wybo\>ruby -v ruby 1.8.4 (2005-10-29) [i686-linux] wybo\> ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/3 "2005-12-25T13:45:26Z")
Make sure that you don’t indent them… ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/4 "2005-12-25T18:15:57Z")
On Sun, 2005-12-25 at 21:45 +0900, Stefan L. wrote: > - Ensure that there is no space/tab before =begin and > =end (i.e. the = must be the first character in the line) This was it, thanks all. Incidentally, the =begin and =end syntax seems pretty cumbersome to me (compared to /\* \*/ for instance). Is it like this because Ruby is so versatile and anything else would be difficult to parse? ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/5 "2005-12-25T21:10:32Z")
More that it is a facility for embedded documentation: [http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/html/rdtool.html](http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/html/rdtool.html) ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/6 "2005-12-25T13:45:27Z")
On Sunday 25 December 2005 12:53, Jonathan L. wrote: > do it? > Two notes, since the RubyGarden page doesn’t mention it: - Ensure that there is no space/tab before =begin and =end (i.e. the = must be the first character in the line) - Nesting of =begin/=end blocks is not possible. ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 2:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/7 "2005-12-28T14:22:15Z")
On Wed, 2005-12-28 at 13:22 +0900, mathew wrote: > Jonathan L. wrote: > > > Incidentally, the =begin and =end syntax seems pretty cumbersome to me > > (compared to /\* \*/ for instance). Is it like this because Ruby is so > > versatile and anything else would be difficult to parse? > > Maybe it’s like that because it’s a facility you’re not supposed to use; > many people feel block comments are a bad idea. Personally, I only use > them in languages which lack line comments. Well if you want to temporarily get rid of a large number of lines, block comments are much, much quicker than doing a line comment for each and every line. I don’t tend to leave block comments in the app though – just during development I find them useful. ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/8 "2005-12-28T20:08:11Z")
Jonathan L. wrote: > On Wed, 2005-12-28 at 13:22 +0900, mathew wrote: > > > Jonathan L. wrote: > > > > > Incidentally, the =begin and =end syntax seems pretty cumbersome to me > > > (compared to /\* \*/ for instance). Is it like this because Ruby is so > > > versatile and anything else would be difficult to parse? > > > > Maybe it’s like that because it’s a facility you’re not supposed to use; > > many people feel block comments are a bad idea. Personally, I only use > > them in languages which lack line comments. > > Well if you want to temporarily get rid of a large number of lines, > block comments are much, much quicker than doing a line comment for each > and every line. I don’t tend to leave block comments in the app though > – just during development I find them useful. Perhaps. V10n:s/^/#/ Comments out the next ten lines for me. I could alias it to a macro key but I have not bothered yet 🙂 E ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/9 "2005-12-28T05:23:30Z")
Jonathan L. wrote: > Incidentally, the =begin and =end syntax seems pretty cumbersome to me > (compared to /\* \*/ for instance). Is it like this because Ruby is so > versatile and anything else would be difficult to parse? Maybe it’s like that because it’s a facility you’re not supposed to use; many people feel block comments are a bad idea. Personally, I only use them in languages which lack line comments. mathew ---
**Author:** ![johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@johanatan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/johanatan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/block-comments-syntax/51065/10 "2005-12-30T14:43:39Z")
Hello. Jonathan L.: > Well if you want to temporarily get rid of a large number of lines, > block comments are much, much quicker than doing a line comment for > each and every line. In vim, I simply use block select (ctrl-v) to select the first column of the affected lines and replace the spaces with comment marks (r#). This has the additional benefit of not shifting the commented-out code to the right. Cheers, – Shot