# In-memory implementation of IO class **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [August 13, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/in-memory-implementation-of-io-class/173674 "2009-08-13T05:08:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ate50eggs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/in-memory-implementation-of-io-class/173674/1 "2009-08-13T05:08:34Z")
Is there an implementation of the IO class that operates on in-memory byte arrays (or other data structure)? I haven’t seen anything in the core/stdlib. ---
**Author:** ![ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ate50eggs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/in-memory-implementation-of-io-class/173674/2 "2009-08-13T05:16:46Z")
On Aug 12, 2009, at 10:07 PM, Nathan B. wrote: > Is there an implementation of the IO class that operates on in-memory > byte arrays (or other data structure)? I haven’t seen anything in the > core/stdlib. Yes, see the standard StringIO library. James Edward G. II ---
**Author:** ![ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ate50eggs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/in-memory-implementation-of-io-class/173674/3 "2009-08-13T05:34:55Z")
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 10:15 PM, James G.[removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > On Aug 12, 2009, at 10:07 PM, Nathan B. wrote: > > > Is there an implementation of the IO class that operates on in-memory > > byte arrays (or other data structure)? I haven’t seen anything in the > > core/stdlib. > > Yes, see the standard StringIO library. > > James Edward G. II Excuse my ignorance – I’m just getting into Ruby, but isn’t the StringIO for working with character data? Is there no distinction between characters and bytes? I was assuming that StringIO and String would cause some form of character encoding/decoding processing to kick in. Thanks - Nathan ---
**Author:** ![ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ate50eggs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/in-memory-implementation-of-io-class/173674/4 "2009-08-13T06:25:50Z")
On Aug 12, 11:34 pm, Nathan B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Excuse my ignorance – I’m just getting into Ruby, but isn’t the > StringIO for working with character data? Is there no distinction > between characters and bytes? I was assuming that StringIO and String > would cause some form of character encoding/decoding processing to > kick in. > > Thanks > > - Nathan I would think this is what the #bytes, #each\_byte, #readbyte, etc methods are for. But I’ve never actually used StringIO _myself_, so I can’t say for sure. (However, the fact that Rack and ActionPack both use StringIO for processing requests says its safe for raw data) ---
**Author:** ![ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@ate50eggs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ate50eggs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 7:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/in-memory-implementation-of-io-class/173674/5 "2009-08-13T07:23:12Z")
On Aug 12, 2009, at 20:34, Nathan B. wrote: > > Yes, see the standard StringIO library. > > > > James Edward G. II > > Excuse my ignorance – I’m just getting into Ruby, but isn’t the > StringIO for working with character data? Is there no distinction > between characters and bytes? I was assuming that StringIO and String > would cause some form of character encoding/decoding processing to > kick in. In ruby 1.8 no. In ruby 1.9 set the encoding to binary.