Variable variables

Rails
1

I know this can be done… rails creates methods from variables all the
time… but how do you code it?

say you have two strings.

a=“test”
test=“this is a test”

how do you get the contents of test with the variable a?

#{a}

well that doesn;t work!! I know this is a easy question for the ruby
gods out there… but for a newbie learning the language it’s
hard… :> HELP!!!

2

say you have two strings.

a=“test”
test=“this is a test”

how do you get the contents of test with the variable a?

Go read “The Ruby Way”

class A
attr_accessor :variable, :test
end

a = A.new

a.variable = :test
a.send a.variable if a.responds_to? a.variable

send is a method in class Object that takes a symbol and an argument
list. the symbol is used to call a method of a corresponding name which
is given the arguments.

Rails tends to use this in combination with method missing in active
record for its handling of database attributes which I assume is what
your referring to.

-K

3

a = “test”
test = “this is a test”
eval a # => “this is a test”

4

Or depending on what you’re doing, why not do this:

a = “This is my #{test} variable.”
test = “super cool”

-Ryan Kopf