# What does this do?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-this-do/165655>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [April 16, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-this-do/165655 "2009-04-16T04:41:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ee7513/32.png) [@petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/petrjanda)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-this-do/165655/1 "2009-04-16T04:41:02Z")

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Im trying to fix two libraries to be compatible with Ruby 1.9 - gruff  
and pdf-writer,

and I came accross this:

SyntaxError:  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/gruff-0.3.4/lib/gruff/mini/legend.rb:72:  
invalid multibyte char (US-ASCII)  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/gruff-0.3.4/lib/gruff/mini/legend.rb:72:  
invalid multibyte char (US-ASCII)  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/gruff-0.3.4/lib/gruff/mini/legend.rb:72:  
syntax error, unexpected $end, expecting ‘:’  
…ength \< label.to\_s.length ? “⦔ : ‘’)

This is the gruff code:

truncated\_label + (truncated\_label.length \< label.to\_s.length ? “â^À¦” :  
‘’)

What does a^A do?

I cant even find these on my keyboard let alone find out what they do.

PDF-writer has something similar

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/pdf-writer-1.1.8/lib/pdf/writer.rb:712:  
invalid multibyte char (US-ASCII)  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/pdf-writer-1.1.8/lib/pdf/writer.rb:712:  
syntax error, unexpected $end, expecting keyword\_end  
content = “%PDF-#{@version}\n%âãÃÃ\n”

Is this hidden Japanese or something?

Thanks,  
Petr

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ee7513/32.png) [@petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/petrjanda)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-this-do/165655/2 "2009-04-16T05:14:10Z")

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Also Transaction Simple makes this error:

no marshal\_dump is defined for class Mutex

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/transaction-simple-1.4.0/lib/transaction/simple.rb:129:in  
`dump' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/transaction-simple-1.4.0/lib/transaction/simple.rb:129:in`start\_transaction’  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/transaction-simple-1.4.0/lib/transaction/simple/group.rb:102:in  
`block in start_transaction' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/transaction-simple-1.4.0/lib/transaction/simple/group.rb:102:in`each’  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/transaction-simple-1.4.0/lib/transaction/simple/group.rb:102:in  
`start_transaction' /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/pdf-writer-1.1.8/lib/pdf/simpletable.rb:396:in`render\_on’

ANy ideas?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ee7513/32.png) [@petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/petrjanda)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-this-do/165655/3 "2009-04-16T06:45:06Z")

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2009/4/16 Petr J. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9/gems/gruff-0.3.4/lib/gruff/mini/legend.rb:72:  
> syntax error, unexpected $end, expecting ‘:’  
> …ength \< label.to\_s.length ? “⦔ : ‘’)
> 
> This is the gruff code:
> 
> truncated\_label + (truncated\_label.length \< label.to\_s.length ? “â^À¦” :  
> ‘’)
> 
> What does a^A do?

It represents Horizontal Ellipsis “…” == “\xE2\x80\xA6” == “\u2026”

> Is this hidden Japanese or something?

It is just a comment to signal that the file is binary.

Refer to [MacTech | The journal of Apple technology.](http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.15/15.09/PDFIntro/)

Regards,

Park H.

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**Author:** ![petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ee7513/32.png) [@petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/petrjanda)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-this-do/165655/4 "2009-04-16T07:03:49Z")

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> It represents Horizontal Ellipsis “…” == “\xE2\x80\xA6” == “\u2026”
> 
> > Is this hidden Japanese or something?
> 
> It is just a comment to signal that the file is binary.
> 
> Refer to [MacTech | The journal of Apple technology.](http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.15/15.09/PDFIntro/)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Park H.

Hi,

And how do I write those if my keyboard doesnt support them?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ee7513/32.png) [@petrjanda](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/petrjanda)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-this-do/165655/5 "2009-04-16T07:27:12Z")

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2009/4/16 Petr J. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> > Park H.
> 
> Hi,
> 
> And how do I write those if my keyboard doesnt support them?  
> Write those with escape sequences.

“\xE2\x80\xA6” and “\xE2\xE3\xCF\xD3”

Regards,

Park H.