View Global and Local Variables

The Kernel exposes methods for getting the list of global_variables and local_variables:

cats  = 42
$demo = "in progress"
p global_variables.sort
#=> [:$!, :$", :$$, :$&, :$', :$*, :$+, :$,, :$-0, :$-F, :$-I, :$-K, :$-W, :$-a,
#=>  :$-d, :$-i, :$-l, :$-p, :$-v, :$-w, :$., :$/, :$0, :$1, :$2, :$3, :$4, :$5,
#=>  :$6, :$7, :$8, :$9, :$:, :$;, :$<, :$=, :$>, :$?, :$@, :$DEBUG, :$FILENAME,
#=>  :$KCODE, :$LOADED_FEATURES, :$LOAD_PATH, :$PROGRAM_NAME, :$SAFE, :$VERBOSE,
#=>  :$\, :$_, :$`, :$binding, :$demo, :$stderr, :$stdin, :$stdout, :$~]

p local_variables
#=> [:cats]

Unlike instance variables there are no methods specifically for getting, setting, or removing global or local variables. Looking for such functionality is usually a sign that your code should be rewritten to use a Hash to store the values. However, if you must modify global or local variables by name, you can use eval with a string:

var = "$demo"
eval(var)           #=> "in progress"
eval("#{var} = 17")
p $demo             #=> 17

By default, eval will evaluate your variables in the current scope. To evaluate local variables in a different scope, you must capture the binding where the local variables exist.

def local_variable_get(name, bound=nil)
  foo = :inside
  eval(name,bound)
end

def test_1
  foo = :outside
  p local_variable_get("foo")
end

def test_2
  foo = :outside
  p local_variable_get("foo",binding)
end
  
test_1 #=> :inside
test_2 #=> :outside

In the above, test_1 did not pass a binding to local_variable_get, and so the eval was executed within the context of that method, where a local variable named foo was set to :inside.

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

Table Of Contents