# Problem with ri or me?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-ri-or-me/90946>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [April 3, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-ri-or-me/90946 "2007-04-03T07:16:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dave\_Miller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/58f4c7/32.png) [@Dave\_Miller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dave_Miller)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-ri-or-me/90946/1 "2007-04-03T07:16:20Z")

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Hello –

I just installed Ruby a couple of days ago, and I have been going  
through  
tutorials, etc. One thing I can’t explain is that ri doesn’t seem to  
work  
on my system. I am running Ruby 1.8.6 on XP. I am trying to run ri  
through  
irb 0.9.5. (Both things are what I got when I did the simple install a  
few  
days ago.)

If I enter ri, I get something like “undefined method `ri’ for  
main:Object  
from (irb):4”

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Dave Miller

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dave\_Miller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/58f4c7/32.png) [@Dave\_Miller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dave_Miller)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 7:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-ri-or-me/90946/2 "2007-04-03T07:25:21Z")

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On Apr 2, 11:14 pm, “Dave Miller” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> What am I doing wrong?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Dave Miller

You run ri from the command line, not from within irb.

Welcome to Ruby.

Chris

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dave\_Miller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/58f4c7/32.png) [@Dave\_Miller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dave_Miller)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 7:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-ri-or-me/90946/3 "2007-04-03T07:41:22Z")

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ri is a command line tool.

I had the same confusion when I first got started!

In irb, you can type the object\_name.methods  
dot methods will give you a list of methods for the object.  
This is a good thing to keep in mind. It’s one example of why irb is  
so useful. Rather than combing through documentation all the time,  
you can ask the object directly!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dave\_Miller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/58f4c7/32.png) [@Dave\_Miller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dave_Miller)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-ri-or-me/90946/4 "2007-04-03T18:58:41Z")

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You might give this a try:

[Best Open Source Mac Software Development Software 2023](http://freshmeat.net/projects/wirble/)

## -r

[http://www.cfcl.com/rdm](http://www.cfcl.com/rdm) Rich M.  
[http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume](http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
[http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/weblog](http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/weblog) +1 650-873-7841

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