I am trying to set the first argument to a method as being optional, followed by any number of args. For example:
def dothis(value=0, *args)
The issue I am running into is that it doesn't seem like this is actually possible? When I call dothis("hey", "how are you", "good")
I was hoping it would set value to default to 0, but instead it is just making value="hey"
. Is there any way to accomplish this behavior?
This is not possible directly in Ruby
There are plenty of options though, depending on what you are doing with your extended params, and what the method is intended to do.
Obvious choices are
1) Take named params using hash syntax
def dothis params
value = params[:value] || 0
list_of_stuff = params[:list] || []
Ruby has nice calling convention around this, you don't need to provide the hash {} brackets
dothis :list => ["hey", "how are you", "good"]
2) Move value to the end, and take an array for the first param
def dothis list_of_stuff, value=0
Called like this:
dothis ["hey", "how are you", "good"], 17
3) Use a code block to provide the list
dothis value = 0
list_of_stuff = yield
Called like this
dothis { ["hey", "how are you", "good"] }
4) Ruby 2.0 introduced named hash parameters, which handle a lot of option 1, above for you:
def dothis value: 0, list: []
# Local variables value and list already defined
# and defaulted if necessary
Called same way as (1):
dothis :list => ["hey", "how are you", "good"]
This post is a little bit old, but I want to contribute if someone is looking for the best solution for that. Since ruby 2.0, you can do that easily with named arguments defined with a hash. The syntax is easy and more readable.
def do_this(value:0, args:[])
puts "The default value is still #{value}"
puts "-----------Other arguments are ---------------------"
for i in args
puts i
end
end
do_this(args:[ "hey", "how are you", "good"])
You can also do the same thing with the greedy keyword **args as a hash, like this:
#**args is a greedy keyword
def do_that(value: 0, **args)
puts "The default value is still #{value}"
puts '-----------Other arguments are ---------------------'
args.each_value do |arg|
puts arg
end
end
do_that(arg1: "hey", arg2: "how are you", arg3: "good")
You will need to use named parameters to accomplish this:
def dothis(args)
args = {:value => 0}.merge args
end
dothis(:value => 1, :name => :foo, :age => 23)
# => {:value=>1, :name=>:foo, :age=>23}
dothis(:name => :foo, :age => 23)
# => {:value=>0, :name=>:foo, :age=>23}
by using value=0 you are actually assigning 0 to value. just to retain the value, you can either use the above mentioned solutions or just simply use value everytime you call this method def dothis(value, digit=[*args]).
The default arguments are used when the arguments are not provided.
I came across the similar issue and I got over it by using:
def check(value=0, digit= [*args])
puts "#{value}" + "#{digit}"
end
and simply call check like this:
dothis(value, [1,2,3,4])
your value would be default and other values belong to other argument.