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rubyfunctiondestruction

Accessing Returned Function Values in Ruby

Consider the following function:

def function
  return 1, 2
end

How can I set a equal to 1 and b equal to 2, assuming a and b are variables?

Please don't recommend a=1 and b=2, the point is to understand how to access what the function has returned.

Solution

  • You can do using a comma:

    a, b = function

    In fact, function returns an array of two elements:

    def function
  return 1,2
end
=> nil 
function
=> [1, 2]

    And you are desconstructing the array - that is each element from the array goes to one variable.

    fun fact: The keyword return is needed in this example.