Ruby – How to return something early from a block

breakloopsreturnruby

If I wanted to do something like this:

collection.each do |i|
   return nil if i == 3

   ..many lines of code here..
end

How would I get that effect? I know I could just wrap everything inside the block in a big if statement, but I'd like to avoid the nesting if possible.

Break would not work here, because I do not want to stop iteration of the remaining elements.

Best Answer

next inside a block returns from the block. break inside a block returns from the function that yielded to the block. For each this means that break exits the loop and next jumps to the next iteration of the loop (thus the names). You can return values with next value and break value.

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Ruby – How to call shell commands from Ruby

This explanation is based on a commented Ruby script from a friend of mine. If you want to improve the script, feel free to update it at the link.

First, note that when Ruby calls out to a shell, it typically calls /bin/sh, not Bash. Some Bash syntax is not supported by /bin/sh on all systems.

Here are ways to execute a shell script:

cmd = "echo 'hi'" # Sample string that can be used

Kernel#` , commonly called backticks – `cmd`

This is like many other languages, including Bash, PHP, and Perl.

Returns the result (i.e. standard output) of the shell command.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-60
```
value = `echo 'hi'`
value = `#{cmd}`
```
Built-in syntax, %x( cmd )

Following the x character is a delimiter, which can be any character. If the delimiter is one of the characters (, [, {, or <, the literal consists of the characters up to the matching closing delimiter, taking account of nested delimiter pairs. For all other delimiters, the literal comprises the characters up to the next occurrence of the delimiter character. String interpolation #{ ... } is allowed.

Returns the result (i.e. standard output) of the shell command, just like the backticks.

Docs: https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/master/syntax/literals_rdoc.html#label-Percent+Strings
```
value = %x( echo 'hi' )
value = %x[ #{cmd} ]
```
Kernel#system

Executes the given command in a subshell.

Returns true if the command was found and run successfully, false otherwise.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-system
```
wasGood = system( "echo 'hi'" )
wasGood = system( cmd )
```
Kernel#exec

Replaces the current process by running the given external command.

Returns none, the current process is replaced and never continues.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-exec
```
exec( "echo 'hi'" )
exec( cmd ) # Note: this will never be reached because of the line above
```

Here's some extra advice: $?, which is the same as $CHILD_STATUS, accesses the status of the last system executed command if you use the backticks, system() or %x{}. You can then access the exitstatus and pid properties:

$?.exitstatus

For more reading see:

How does one return from a groovy closure and stop its execution

I think you want to use find instead of each (at least for the specified example). Closures don't directly support break.

Under the covers, groovy doesn't actually use a closure either for find, it uses a for loop.

Alternatively, you could write your own enhanced version of find/each iterator that takes a conditional test closure, and another closure to call if a match is found, having it break if a match is met.

Here's an example:

Object.metaClass.eachBreak = { ifClosure, workClosure ->
    for (Iterator iter = delegate.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
        def value = iter.next()
        if (ifClosure.call(value)) {
            workClosure.call(value)
            break
        }        
    }
}

def a = ["foo", "bar", "baz", "qux"]

a.eachBreak( { it.startsWith("b") } ) {
    println "working on $it"
}

// prints "working on bar"

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ruby – How to call shell commands from Ruby

How does one return from a groovy closure and stop its execution

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