# Params question

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 4, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598 "2007-03-04T07:00:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joshuajnoble)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598/1 "2007-03-04T07:00:30Z")

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I’m a little embarrassed to ask this but I have a url that is like:

foo/bar/5?start=45

and in foo\_controller I’m trying to access it like so:

def bar  
@start\_time = get\_start\_time(params)  
end

def get\_start\_time(params)  
if params[‘start’].to\_s != nil  
return ‘?start=’+params[‘start’].to\_s  
end  
end

I’m coming from PHP/.NET so RESTfulness is a little difficult for me  
to wrap my head around. Maybe I’m googling on the wrong terms but I  
haven’t had any luck yet…Any advice would be very appreciated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joshuajnoble)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 7:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598/2 "2007-03-04T07:24:31Z")

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I’m not sure what exactly your trying to do with the get\_start\_time  
method when it looks like you just want:

@start\_time = params[:start]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joshuajnoble)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 7:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598/3 "2007-03-04T07:27:31Z")

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Here is a good REST pdf.  
[http://www.rubyinside.com/restful-rails-development-pdf-released-392.html](http://www.rubyinside.com/restful-rails-development-pdf-released-392.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joshuajnoble)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598/4 "2007-03-04T16:48:11Z")

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joshuajnoble wrote:

> Hi thanks for the respone. I just need to have @start\_time = “?  
> start=”+params[:start] only if params[:start] isn’t empty, i.e. if the  
> url isn’t
> 
> foo/bar/5?start=45
> 
> but is
> 
> foo/bar/5

def get\_start\_time(params)  
if !params[‘start’].nil?  
“?start=#{params[‘start’]}”  
end  
end

or maybe just

def get\_start\_time(params)  
if params[‘start’]  
“?start=#{params[‘start’]}”  
end  
end

let me know if it works 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joshuajnoble)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598/5 "2007-03-04T17:45:20Z")

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That works perfectly, thank you so much. I’m curious how ruby, like,  
well anything else I work with, doesn’t require a return statement:

def get\_start\_time(params)  
if params[‘start’]  
return “?start=#{params[‘start’]}”  
end  
end

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joshuajnoble)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598/6 "2007-03-04T16:38:12Z")

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Hi thanks for the respone. I just need to have @start\_time = “?  
start=”+params[:start] only if params[:start] isn’t empty, i.e. if the  
url isn’t

foo/bar/5?start=45

but is

foo/bar/5

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@joshuajnoble](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/joshuajnoble)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-question/87598/7 "2007-03-04T21:58:45Z")

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The value returned by a Ruby method is the value of the last  
expression evaluated.

Read:  
[http://www.rubycentral.com/book/intro.html](http://www.rubycentral.com/book/intro.html)

Best,  
Thomas

Am 04.03.2007 um 17:44 schrieb joshuajnoble: