The current version of Irbtools requires IRB 1.11+ (which Ruby version bundles which IRB?). Please use Irbtools 3 for earlier versions of IRB.
Improves Ruby's IRB with:
- a default configuration
- improved syntax highlighting of result objects
- helpful commands for debugging and introspection
>> shadow [1,2,3].reverse
=> # ObjectShadow of Object #85280
## Lookup Chain
[#<Class:#<Array:0x00007fccd9cfac30>>, Array, Enumerable, Object, "…"]
## 141 Public Methods (Non-Class/Object)
[:&, :*, :+, :-, :<<, :<=>, :==, :[], :[]=, :all?, :any?, :append, :assoc, :at, :bsearch, :bsearch_index, :chain,
:chunk, :chunk_while, :clear, :collect, :collect!, :collect_concat, :combination, :compact, :compact!, :concat,
:count, :cycle, :deconstruct, :delete, :delete_at, :delete_if, :detect, :difference, :dig, :drop, :drop_while,
:each, :each_cons, :each_entry, :each_index, :each_slice, :each_with_index, :each_with_object, :empty?, :entries,
:eql?, :fetch, :fill, :filter, :filter!, :filter_map, :find, :find_all, :find_index, :first, :flat_map, :flatten,
:flatten!, :grep, :grep_v, :group_by, :hash, :include?, :index, :inject, :insert, :inspect, :intersect?,
:intersection, :join, :keep_if, :last, :lazy, :length, :map, :map!, :max, :max_by, :member?, :min, :min_by,
:minmax, :minmax_by, :none?, :one?, :pack, :partition, :permutation, :pop, :prepend, :product, :push, :rassoc,
:reduce, :reject, :reject!, :repeated_combination, :repeated_permutation, :replace, :reverse, :reverse!,
:reverse_each, :rindex, :rotate, :rotate!, :sample, :select, :select!, :shelljoin, :shift, :shuffle, :shuffle!,
:size, :slice, :slice!, :slice_after, :slice_before, :slice_when, :sort, :sort!, :sort_by, :sort_by!, :sum,
:take, :take_while, :tally, :to_a, :to_ary, :to_h, :to_s, :to_set, :transpose, :union, :uniq, :uniq!, :unshift,
:values_at, :zip, :|]
## 2 Private Methods (Non-Class/Object)
[:initialize, :initialize_copy]
## Object Inspect
[3, 2, 1]
>> look "str"
.
.
.
Comparable
< <= == > >= between? clamp
String
% crypt inspect squeeze!
* dedup intern start_with?
+ delete length strip
+@ delete! lines strip!
-@ delete_prefix ljust sub
<< delete_prefix! lstrip sub!
<=> delete_suffix lstrip! succ
.
.
.
>> code SecureRandom.uuid
#
# /home/dan/.rvm/rubies/ruby-3.2.0/lib/ruby/3.2.0/random/formatter.rb:170
#
# Generate a random v4 UUID (Universally Unique IDentifier).
#
# require 'random/formatter'
#
# Random.uuid #=> "2d931510-d99f-494a-8c67-87feb05e1594"
# Random.uuid #=> "bad85eb9-0713-4da7-8d36-07a8e4b00eab"
# # or
# prng = Random.new
# prng.uuid #=> "62936e70-1815-439b-bf89-8492855a7e6b"
#
# The version 4 UUID is purely random (except the version).
# It doesn't contain meaningful information such as MAC addresses, timestamps, etc.
#
# The result contains 122 random bits (15.25 random bytes).
#
# See RFC4122[https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4122] for details of UUID.
#
def uuid
ary = random_bytes(16).unpack("NnnnnN")
ary[2] = (ary[2] & 0x0fff) | 0x4000
ary[3] = (ary[3] & 0x3fff) | 0x8000
"%08x-%04x-%04x-%04x-%04x%08x" % ary
end
>> code Array#reverse
//
// https://github.com/ruby/ruby/blob/ruby_3_2/array.c#L3282
//
// Returns a new \Array with the elements of +self+ in reverse order:
//
// a = ['foo', 'bar', 'two']
// a1 = a.reverse
// a1 # => ["two", "bar", "foo"]
static VALUE
rb_ary_reverse_m(VALUE ary)
{
long len = RARRAY_LEN(ary);
VALUE dup = rb_ary_new2(len);
if (len > 0) {
const VALUE *p1 = RARRAY_CONST_PTR_TRANSIENT(ary);
VALUE *p2 = (VALUE *)RARRAY_CONST_PTR_TRANSIENT(dup) + len - 1;
do *p2-- = *p1++; while (--len > 0);
}
ARY_SET_LEN(dup, RARRAY_LEN(ary));
return dup;
}
>> howtocall require
require(path)
>> require "rubygems/user_interaction"
>> ui = Gem::ConsoleUI.new
>> howtocall ui.choose_from_list
choose_from_list(question, list)
>> $ git status # displays current git status
$ gem install irbtools
IRB executes code in ~/.irbrc
on start-up. If the file does not exist, yet,
just create a new one. Add the following content:
require 'irbtools'
You also need to add irbtools to your project's Gemfile
:
gem 'irbtools', require: 'irbtools/binding'
Then start IRB (with Irbtools loaded) from the terminal or directly from your code with:
binding.irb
Optional: If the binding_of_caller gem is available, you can just call the irb
method and it will start a session with the current binding:
irb
- Syntax highlighting (wirb / fancy_irb)
- Loads included libraries efficiently to reduce IRB start-up time
- Customizable views for specfic options using hirb. By default, ActiveRecord results get displayed as a table.
- Lookup and manipulate instance variables / methods with ease using object_shadow
- Go even further with looksee, the best lookup path inspection tool out there
- Display a method's source code using code
- Find methods that turn one value into another value with methodfinder
- Use VIM from inside IRB
Commands get treated specially by IRB and do not necessarily follow Ruby syntax.
Command | Alias | Description | Example |
---|---|---|---|
code |
- | Shows syntax-highlighted source code of a method | code Array#reverse |
howtocall |
- | Shows the method signature | howtocall String#gsub |
look |
- | Shows looksee method list | look [1,2,3] |
shadow |
+ |
Shows object shadow method list | shadow [1,2,3] |
sys |
$ |
Calls system shell | $ top |
Two default commands have an additional alias:
Command | Alias | Description | Example |
---|---|---|---|
show_doc |
ri |
Shows documentation | ri String#gsub |
chws |
co |
"change into an object" | co [1,2,3] |
Please note that IRB's own ls command is aliased to ils
, since ls
already refers to a method listing all files in the current directory. If you haven't tried looksee (look
) or object shadows (shadow
) - give it a try ;)
Method / Constant | Arguments | Description | Provided By |
---|---|---|---|
Object#lp or Object#look |
Supercharged method introspection in IRB | looksee | |
Object#shadow |
Manipulate instance variables and learn about callable methods | object_shadow | |
code |
object = self, method_name | Display the method source with syntax highlighting. Will also try to look up C methods. | code |
howtocall |
object = self, method_or_proc | Display parameter names and types you will need to call a method | debugging/howtocall |
mf |
object1, object2 | Find methods which turn one value into another value | methodfinder |
Method / Constant | Arguments | Description | Provided By |
---|---|---|---|
OS |
Query operating system information | os | |
RubyVersion |
Show the Ruby version | ruby_version | |
RubyEngine |
Show the Ruby engine | ruby_engine |
Method / Constant | Arguments | Description | Provided By |
---|---|---|---|
beep |
Ring terminal bell | debugging/beep | |
clear |
Clear the terminal | every_day_irb | |
copy |
string | Copy something to the clipboard | clipboard |
copy_output |
Copy session output history to the clipboard | clipboard, irbtools | |
colorize |
string | Syntax-highlight a string of Ruby code | coderay, irbtools |
ed / emacs / mate / mvim / nano / vi / vim |
filename = nil | Start an editor in the session context | interactive_editor |
ld |
file | Shortcut for load lib.to_s + '.rb' |
every_day_irb |
pa |
string, color | Print a string in the specified color | paint |
page |
what, options = {} | Use pager to improve viewing longer content | hirb, irbtools |
paste |
Paste clipboard content | clipboard | |
q |
*args | Like Kernel#p , but prints results on one line, with different colors |
debugging/q |
re |
string, regexg, groups = nil | Regex debugging helper | debugging/re |
reset! |
Restart the current IRB session | every_day_irb | |
rq |
lib | Shortcut for require lib.to_s . Use it like this: rq:prime |
every_day_irb |
rr |
lib | Shortcut for require_relative lib.to_s |
every_day_irb |
rrq / rerequire |
lib | Hack to remove a library from $LOADED_FEATURES and require it again |
every_day_irb |
wp |
inspect_string | Syntax-highlight a Ruby return value | wirb |
Method / Constant | Arguments | Description | Provided By |
---|---|---|---|
cat |
path | Read file contents | every_day_irb |
cd |
path = nil | Change the directory. Can also be used in these forms: ~cd (change to home directory), -cd (change to previous directory) |
cd |
chmod |
mode, path | Set file mode for file | fileutils |
chmod_R |
mode, path | Set file mode for directory | fileutils |
chown |
user, group, path | Set file owner for file | fileutils |
chown_R |
user, group, path | Set file owner for directory | fileutils |
cp |
source, destination | Copy file | fileutils |
cp_r |
source, destination | Copy directory | fileutils |
ls |
path = "." | List directory content | cd |
ln |
target, link | Create symlink (ln ) |
fileutils |
ln_s |
target, link | Create symlink (ln -s ) |
fileutils |
ln_sf |
target, link | Create symlink (ln -sf ) |
fileutils |
mkdir |
path | Create a new directory | fileutils |
mkdir_p |
path | Create a new directory (with -p option) |
fileutils |
cp |
source, destination | Move file or directory | fileutils |
pwd |
Return current directory | fileutils | |
ray |
path | Syntax highlight a Ruby file | coderay, irbtools |
rm |
path | Delete a file (rm ) |
fileutils |
rm_r |
path | Delete a file or directory (rm -r ) |
fileutils |
rm_rf |
path | Delete a file or directory, with force (rm -rf ) |
fileutils |
rmdir |
path | Delete an empty directory | fileutils |
See CONFIGURE.md.
Windows: ANSI support can be enabled via ansicon or ConEmu or WSL.
Clipboard support requires xsel or xclip. On ubuntu, do:
sudo apt-get install xsel
If you do not want to add Irbtools to your project's Gemfile
, you will need a
debundle hack. Put it at the
beginning of your ~/.irbrc
file and you are fine.
You can use Irbtools without colors/IRB extensions. To do so, put this into ~/.irbrc
:
require 'irbtools/non_fancy'
Irbtools.start
Copyright (c) 2010-2023 Jan Lelis https://janlelis.com released under the MIT license.