Shortcut for .pack("p*").unpack("l").first?

Ruby
1

Hi all,

If I want to get the underlying pointer address of a
Ruby string, I can do this:

string = “hello”
[string].pack(“p*”).unpack(“l”).first # 43329024

I thought there was a shortcut for this. Originally I thought
perhaps object_id was identical, but that doesn’t seem to be
the case. Maybe that was immediate types only.

Anyway, is there a shorter way? Or am I remembering
incorrectly?

Thanks,

Dan

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2

2006/5/1, Berger, Daniel [email protected]:

Hi all,

If I want to get the underlying pointer address of a
Ruby string, I can do this:

What do you want with a memory address in Ruby-land? If you’re in an
extension then there’s probably an easier way to get at the address.

string = “hello”
[string].pack(“p*”).unpack(“l”).first # 43329024

I thought there was a shortcut for this. Originally I thought
perhaps object_id was identical, but that doesn’t seem to be
the case. Maybe that was immediate types only.

If you want to identify an individual object then of course object_id
is the appropriate means.

Kind regards

robert

3

Berger, Daniel wrote:

If I want to get the underlying pointer address of a

Insert standard confusion about someone worried about pointers in Ruby.
Assume you know what you want.

Ruby string, I can do this:

string = “hello”
[string].pack(“p*”).unpack(“l”).first # 43329024

Anyway, is there a shorter way? Or am I remembering
incorrectly?

Why don’t you just add it to String?

irb(main):001:0> class String; def blah;
[self].pack(“p*”).unpack(“l”).first; end; end
=> nil
irb(main):002:0> “hello”.blah
=> 43862144

–Steve

4

Berger, Daniel wrote:

the case. Maybe that was immediate types only.
Even if you can munge object_id and get a pointer to the object, still,
in the case of strings, you have to dereference from a field in the
object to get to the actual string storage:

struct RString {
struct RBasic basic;
long len;
char *ptr;
union {
long capa;
VALUE shared;
} aux;
};