# Conditional replacements in rhtml

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditional-replacements-in-rhtml/97271>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [January 25, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditional-replacements-in-rhtml/97271 "2006-01-25T17:27:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![James\_BSByrne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@James\_BSByrne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/James_BSByrne)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditional-replacements-in-rhtml/97271/1 "2006-01-25T17:27:09Z")

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I am working on the Agile programming tutorial and trying out some  
ruby code. Can someone tell me why the following works:

# Display Cart

Your cart currently holds \<%= @items.size %\> \<%= @items.size == 1 ? "item" : "items" %\>.

while this does not?

# Display Cart

Your cart currently holds \<%= @items.size %\> \<%= if @items.size == 1 then "item" else "items" %\>.

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**Author:** ![James\_BSByrne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@James\_BSByrne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/James_BSByrne)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditional-replacements-in-rhtml/97271/2 "2006-01-25T18:33:54Z")

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Hi James,

To do this with an if statement:

\<%if @items.size == 1 -%\>item\<% else -%\>items\<% end -%\>

I like this better myself.

\<%= @items.size == 1 ? “item” : “items” %\>

~ Ben

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![James\_BSByrne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@James\_BSByrne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/James_BSByrne)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditional-replacements-in-rhtml/97271/3 "2006-01-25T19:04:16Z")

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Ben R. wrote:

> Hi James,
> 
> To do this with an if statement:
> 
> \<%if @items.size == 1 -%\>item\<% else -%\>items\<% end -%\>
> 
> I like this better myself.
> 
> \<%= @items.size == 1 ? “item” : “items” %\>
> 
> ~ Ben

This is probably more railsy.

Your cart currently holds \<%= pluralize(@items.size,"item") %\>.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![James\_BSByrne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@James\_BSByrne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/James_BSByrne)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditional-replacements-in-rhtml/97271/4 "2006-01-25T19:13:26Z")

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you forgot the end after else “items”