Suppose I have a string, say s = “test string” … the difference between
s.gsub and s.gsub! is whether or not the method modifies the object
itself. That is, s.gsub simply returns a new string w/ the appropriate
modifications, while s.gsub!(/t/,“T”) will change s to a new value, to
wit, “TesT sTring”…
My question is, is there a way that I can create my own “!” methods in
Ruby?
For instance, if I have:
def f(s)
s = “new string”
end
and then I call:
s = “test string”
f(s)
puts s
the output is still “test string”…
Is there a way that I can write a method f! so that:
You can have ! at the end of your methods, so your f! is a valid method
definition.
To replace the contents of the string, instead of creating a new
instance,
look at String#replace.
Also, note that ! at the end of a method name does not always mean
“modifies
the receiver,” it is, in general, a convention meaning “something odd is
happening here.” You can have !-methods without a corresponding !-less
method, and !-less methods can modify the receiver. In fact,
String#replace
itself has no ! – !.
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