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rubyfile-iobackground-process

Can I write to a file in background?

During the execution of my script I need to write a big file to disk to store partial calculations. This file is quite big and it is not needed for the rest of the script. At the moment I need to wait for the writing to finish before I can continue the execution of the script.

Is there a way to write the file in background? Something like launching a separate process for writing while the rest of the script continues undisturbed?

Solution 
  • thread = Thread.new do
  File.open("output.txt", "w") do |file|
    file.puts "hello from the background"
  end
end

# Finish the script
...

# Wait for the file writing to finish
thread.join