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**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [June 27, 2008, 9:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-in-html-erb-files/141579 "2008-06-27T09:41:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1
**Author:**  [@amrita](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/amrita)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-in-html-erb-files/141579/1 "2008-06-27T09:41:22Z")
I have just started learning Rails and Ruby. I have succeeded in
building an application so far. However, recently I tried embedding
some ruby code in one of my html.erb files with the intention of
further formatting the string that was being output. The original
string was a set of lines with tab-delimited fields. So, I wanted to
put it in pretty print HTML. For this, i used some string functions
such as String.lines. When I try to view the said page, I get the
following error:
undefined method `lines’ for #String:0x240d448
The line of code where the error appears is:
@longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report.lines { |line| print @line }
And if I insert a require ‘String’ in the beginning of the file, it
still gives me the following error:
no such file to load – String
I am completely new to Ruby, although I am learning the language
parallel with Rails.
Can somebody please help me understand this problem, or point me to a
relevant resource?
Thanks!
---
**Author:**  [@amrita](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/amrita)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-in-html-erb-files/141579/2 "2008-06-27T09:47:14Z")
On Jun 26, 11:14 pm, amrita [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:
> undefined method `lines’ for #String:0x240d448
>
> The line of code where the error appears is:
>
> @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report.lines { |line| print @line }
What is @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report ? Did you mean each\_line ?
Also the variable you’re using inside the block should be line, not
@line (it’s got to match what is in between the | |)
You should also parse the result through h or you may output invalid
html
Fred
---
**Author:**  [@amrita](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/amrita)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-in-html-erb-files/141579/3 "2008-06-27T19:16:28Z")
Thanks, Fred. @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report is a string, which is
a set of lines, each line consisting of tab-delimited fields. When I
print @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report, it prints correctly. It is
only when I try to parse it that I get the “undefined method” error
for the method “lines”. Do I need to create a new String object first
using @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report and then use the method lines
on it? I am going to try that next.
I corrected ‘@line’ to ‘line’ and the error still persists.
Thanks!
On Jun 27, 12:46 am, Frederick C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)
---
**Author:**  [@amrita](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/amrita)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-in-html-erb-files/141579/4 "2008-06-27T20:08:51Z")
On 27 Jun 2008, at 18:15, amrita wrote:
> Thanks, Fred. @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report is a string, which is
> a set of lines, each line consisting of tab-delimited fields. When I
> print @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report, it prints correctly. It is
> only when I try to parse it that I get the “undefined method” error
> for the method “lines”. Do I need to create a new String object first
> using @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report and then use the method lines
> on it? I am going to try that next.
String doesn’t have a lines method before ruby 1.8.7.
Fred
---
**Author:**  [@amrita](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/amrita)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-in-html-erb-files/141579/5 "2008-06-27T20:08:16Z")
I just checked this.
There is in fact a method lines mentioned in the Ruby API docs for
string.
But if you list the methods of a string, it’s missing.
that’s from the docs:
str.lines(separator=$/) =\> anEnumerator
str.lines(separator=$/) {|substr| block } =\> str
Returns an enumerator that gives each line in the string. If a block
is given, it iterates over each line in the string.
“foo\nbar\n”.lines.to\_a #=\> [“foo\n”, “bar\n”]
“foo\nb ar”.lines.sort #=\> [“b ar”, “foo\n”]
So I see, what you want to do, but I don’t know, what happened to this
method.
Maybe you can use one of te other string functions like split
---
**Author:**  [@amrita](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/amrita)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-in-html-erb-files/141579/6 "2008-06-27T20:38:10Z")
OK, now that makes sense for the error to show up then. Let me try
other methods such as split. Thank you, Fred and Thorsten, for your
help.
---
**Author:**  [@amrita](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/amrita)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-in-html-erb-files/141579/7 "2008-06-27T23:52:33Z")
OK, here is the exact Ruby code I use now.
Line1: \<%= @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report %\>
Line2: \<% @longshortgene.parsed\_blast\_report.split(/\n/).each do |
field| %\>
Line3: \<%= field %\>
Line4: \<% end %\>
It works! Thanks again!