English

Include the English library file in a Ruby script, and you can reference the global variables such as $_ using less cryptic names, listed below.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'english'

And then execute:

$ bundle install

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install english

Usage

Without 'English':

$\ = ' -- '
"waterbuffalo" =~ /buff/
print $', $$, "\n"

With English:

require "English"

$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR = ' -- '
"waterbuffalo" =~ /buff/
print $POSTMATCH, $PID, "\n"

The aliases are defined in English.rb, and are as follows, first alias to builtin, then builtin to alias:

Builtin to Alias Table

Builtin	Alias
$!	$ERROR_INFO
$$	$PID
$$	$PROCESS_ID
$&	$MATCH
$'	$POSTMATCH
$*	$ARGV
$+	$LAST_PAREN_MATCH
$,	$OFS
$,	$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR
$.	$INPUT_LINE_NUMBER
$.	$NR
$/	$INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR
$/	$RS
$;	$FIELD_SEPARATOR
$;	$FS
$<	$DEFAULT_INPUT
$>	$DEFAULT_OUTPUT
$?	$CHILD_STATUS
$@	$ERROR_POSITION
$\	$ORS
$\	$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR
$_	$LAST_READ_LINE
$`	$PREMATCH
$~	$LAST_MATCH_INFO

Alias to Builtin Table

Alias	Builtin
$ARGV	$*
$CHILD_STATUS	$?
$DEFAULT_INPUT	$<
$DEFAULT_OUTPUT	$>
$ERROR_INFO	$!
$ERROR_POSITION	$@
$FIELD_SEPARATOR	$;
$FS	$;
$INPUT_LINE_NUMBER	$.
$INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR	$/
$LAST_MATCH_INFO	$~
$LAST_PAREN_MATCH	$+
$LAST_READ_LINE	$_
$MATCH	$&
$NR	$.
$OFS	$,
$ORS	$\
$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR	$,
$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR	$\
$PID	$$
$POSTMATCH	$'
$PREMATCH	$`
$PROCESS_ID	$$
$RS	$/

Development

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run rake test to run the tests. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and tags, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/ruby/English.