# How can I know if a program is running inside irb?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-can-i-know-if-a-program-is-running-inside-irb/162903>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 15, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-can-i-know-if-a-program-is-running-inside-irb/162903 "2009-03-15T14:10:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![abc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@abc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/abc)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-can-i-know-if-a-program-is-running-inside-irb/162903/1 "2009-03-15T14:10:56Z")

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Hi,

from a certain piece of code, how can I know if it’s been run inside  
irb, or just ruby. I’ve tried looking in the IRB rdoc, but haven’t  
found any relevant methods.

Thanks in advance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![abc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@abc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/abc)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-can-i-know-if-a-program-is-running-inside-irb/162903/2 "2009-03-15T14:26:14Z")

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abc schrieb:

> Hi,
> 
> from a certain piece of code, how can I know if it’s been run inside  
> irb, or just ruby. I’ve tried looking in the IRB rdoc, but haven’t  
> found any relevant methods.
> 
> Thanks in advance.

if it is really necessary (I don’t know why it should be) maybe it’s an  
option to use  
Object.const\_defined? :IRB

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![abc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@abc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/abc)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-can-i-know-if-a-program-is-running-inside-irb/162903/3 "2009-03-15T14:40:54Z")

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On 15 mar, 14:22, badboy [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Object.const\_defined? :IRB  
> Thanks. It’s just a bit of an ugly hack to know whether I should start  
> a Curses interface or not. A curses interface misbehaves within irb  
> since irb is also using curses. That’s all.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![abc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@abc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/abc)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-can-i-know-if-a-program-is-running-inside-irb/162903/4 "2009-03-15T14:36:12Z")

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2009/3/15 abc [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

> Hi,
> 
> from a certain piece of code, how can I know if it’s been run inside  
> irb, or just ruby. I’ve tried looking in the IRB rdoc, but haven’t  
> found any relevant methods.

see the gem sys-proctable!

-Thomas

–  
Thomas P.  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid

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