Checking if a required gem is installed from within code

suggest change

To check if a required gem is installed, from within your code, you can use the following (using nokogiri as an example):

begin
  found_gem = Gem::Specification.find_by_name('nokogiri')
  require 'nokogiri'
  ....
  <the rest of your code>
rescue Gem::LoadError
end

However, this can be further extended to a function that can be used in setting up functionality within your code.

def gem_installed?(gem_name)
  found_gem = false
  begin
    found_gem = Gem::Specification.find_by_name(gem_name)
  rescue Gem::LoadError
     return false
  else
    return true
  end
end

Now you can check if the required gem is installed, and print an error message.

if gem_installed?('nokogiri')
  require 'nokogiri'
else
  printf "nokogiri gem required\n"
  exit 1
end

if gem_installed?('nokogiri')
 require 'nokogiri'
else
 require 'REXML'
end

Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea? Let me know.

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