# More questions regarding .irbrc on Windows

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/more-questions-regarding-irbrc-on-windows/169985>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [June 10, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/more-questions-regarding-irbrc-on-windows/169985 "2009-06-10T23:20:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bbiker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@bbiker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bbiker)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/more-questions-regarding-irbrc-on-windows/169985/1 "2009-06-10T23:20:56Z")

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I did not want to kidnap a previous thread on the subject of .irbrc on  
Windows.

On my Windows XP SP3, I have 3 Ruby installed.

ruby 1.8.6 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 287) [i386-mswin32]

ruby 1.8.6 (2009-03-31 patchlevel 386) [i386-mingw32]

ruby 1.9.1 (2009-05-12 revision 23412) [i386-mingw32]

A search revealed the absence of any .irbrc file.

Questions:

Is it necessary to have an .irbrc file?  
What should it contained?

Thank for any enlightment you may provide.

bbiker

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**Author:** ![bbiker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@bbiker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bbiker)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/more-questions-regarding-irbrc-on-windows/169985/2 "2009-06-10T23:56:06Z")

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On 10.06.2009 23:17, bbiker wrote:

> I did not want to kidnap a previous thread on the subject of .irbrc on  
> Windows.
> 
> On my Windows XP SP3, I have 3 Ruby installed.
> 
> ruby 1.8.6 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 287) [i386-mswin32]
> 
> ruby 1.8.6 (2009-03-31 patchlevel 386) [i386-mingw32]

I would get rid of the older of the two versions. This saves space and  
helps avoid confusion.

> ruby 1.9.1 (2009-05-12 revision 23412) [i386-mingw32]
> 
> A search revealed the absence of any .irbrc file.
> 
> Questions:
> 
> Is it necessary to have an .irbrc file?

No.

> What should it contained?

require “irb/completion”

Kind regards

robert

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bbiker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@bbiker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bbiker)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/more-questions-regarding-irbrc-on-windows/169985/3 "2009-06-11T06:31:04Z")

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On Jun 10, 5:54 pm, Robert K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> –  
> remember.guy do |as, often| as.you\_can - without endhttp://blog.rubybestpractices.com/

Thank You

bbiker

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bbiker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@bbiker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bbiker)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/more-questions-regarding-irbrc-on-windows/169985/4 "2009-06-11T07:00:54Z")

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On Jun 10, 5:54 pm, Robert K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I would get rid of the older of the two versions. This saves space and  
> helps avoid confusion.
> 
> > ruby 1.9.1 (2009-05-12 revision 23412) [i386-mingw32]

This is what I really like to do, but!!!

I am in the process of verifying that my applications run on ruby .  
1.8.6 mingw32.  
the scripts that use Firewatir have problem with jssh to control  
Firefox 3.0  
they run fine on ruby 1.8.6 mswin32

not a show stopper since I have Watir scripts that work with IE  
Explorer

Looks like it will be a while before I can migrate to ruby 1.9.1 …  
the usual gem problem.

watir does not work on ruby 1.9.1

firewatir would work on ruby 1.9.1 with a one-line change except for  
the problem with jssh.

once again, thank you for your help.