Ruby Programming Language :: Finding files associated with objects in Ruby


	Finding files associated with objects in Ruby This is a bit of an odd request, but does anyone know how i would find what file Ruby is using to define an object in? For instance if i had a few libraries in my include path and they defined the (ever useful) classes Foo, Bar, and Baz is there anyway to find out from within ruby that Foo is defined in the file /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ foo-1.0.0/lib/foo.rb or wherever? The best i could come up with would be a rather brute force approach to searching through the files found in $: and this just seems horribly slow and prone to explosions. Just wondering if someone out there who has a better understanding of Ruby's underbelly might have a better idea. /Geoff There is a Kernel method called "caller" that can help you here. It returns the current execution stack in the "file:line" format, so if you need to know what file a method is define in, you can use the "caller" method to show you. Mark On 5/29/07 4:25 PM, "gparsons" <geoffrey.pars@gmail.com> wrote: - Hide quoted text - > This is a bit of an odd request, but does anyone know how i would find > what file Ruby is using to define an object in? For instance if i had > a few libraries in my include path and they defined the (ever useful) > classes Foo, Bar, and Baz is there anyway to find out from within ruby > that Foo is defined in the file /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ > foo-1.0.0/lib/foo.rb or wherever? > The best i could come up with would be a rather brute force approach > to searching through the files found in $: and this just seems > horribly slow and prone to explosions. Just wondering if someone out > there who has a better understanding of Ruby's underbelly might have a > better idea. > /Geoff gparsons wrote: > This is a bit of an odd request, but does anyone know how i would find > what file Ruby is using to define an object in? For instance if i had > a few libraries in my include path and they defined the (ever useful) > classes Foo, Bar, and Baz is there anyway to find out from within ruby > that Foo is defined in the file /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ > foo-1.0.0/lib/foo.rb or wherever? > The best i could come up with would be a rather brute force approach > to searching through the files found in $: and this just seems > horribly slow and prone to explosions. Just wondering if someone out > there who has a better understanding of Ruby's underbelly might have a > better idea. > /Geoff This might not be fully general, but works in the basic case. If SCRIPT_LINES__ is defined as a hash when a file is loaded, the lines of the file are stored as an array under the key of the filename. SCRIPT_LINES__ = {} require 'foo' def defining_files(klass) files = [] SCRIPT_LINES__.each do \|filename, lines\| if not lines.grep(/class\s+(\S+::)*#{klass.to_s}/).empty? files << File.expand_path(filename) end end files end defining_files(Foo) best, Dan -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/. On 29.05.2007 22:22, gparsons wrote: > This is a bit of an odd request, but does anyone know how i would find > what file Ruby is using to define an object in? For instance if i had > a few libraries in my include path and they defined the (ever useful) > classes Foo, Bar, and Baz is there anyway to find out from within ruby > that Foo is defined in the file /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ > foo-1.0.0/lib/foo.rb or wherever? > The best i could come up with would be a rather brute force approach > to searching through the files found in $: and this just seems > horribly slow and prone to explosions. Just wondering if someone out > there who has a better understanding of Ruby's underbelly might have a > better idea. Note that the caller approach either requires to manipulate the class that you are looking for or you need to know that it has a method that will accept a block which you can use to inject your "locating code". Given the frequency (or rather /in/frequency) with which this comes up here it seems that most people are OK with the brute force approach. :-) Kind regards robert Daniel Lucraft wrote: > This might not be fully general, but works in the basic case. If > SCRIPT_LINES__ is defined as a hash when a file is loaded, the lines of > the file are stored as an array under the key of the filename. > SCRIPT_LINES__ = {} This is the most obscure and arcane bit of ruby knowledge I have learned in a loooong time. Bravo Daniel Daniel DeLorme wrote: > This is the most obscure and arcane bit of ruby knowledge I have learned > in a loooong time. Bravo Thank Dave Thomas. I just decided to read Programming Ruby Part Three from cover to cover yesterday. Dan -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.