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rubyinstance-variablesaccessor

Directly accessing an instance variable vs. Using an accessor method

Can anyone explain the difference between accessing an instance attribute via self.attribute and by @attribute?

Solution

  • self.attribute calls the method attribute.
    self.attribute = value calls the method attribute= with the argument value.
    @attribute and @attribute = value get/set the value of the instance variable @attribute.

    So basically they're two entirely different things.

    However if you call attr_accessor :attribute it defines the method attribute to return @attribute and the method attribute=(value) to set @attribute = value. So in that case, there is no difference.