irb — Interactive Ruby Shell
Contents
Description
irb is the REPL(read-eval-print loop) environment for Ruby programs.
Environment
IRB_LANG The locale used for irb.
IRBRC The path to the personal initialization file.
XDG_CONFIG_HOME irb respects XDG_CONFIG_HOME. If this is set, load $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/irb/irbrc as a
personal initialization file.
Also irb depends on same variables as ruby(1).
Examples
%irbirb(main):001:0>1+12irb(main):002:0>deft(x)irb(main):003:1>x+1irb(main):004:1>end=>:tirb(main):005:0>t(3)=>4irb(main):006:0>ift(3)==4irb(main):007:1>p:okirb(main):008:1>end:ok=>:okirb(main):009:0>quit%
Files
~/.irbrc
Personal irb initialization. If IRBRC is set, read $IRBRC instead. If IRBRC is not set and
XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/irb/irbrc is loaded.
Name
irb — Interactive Ruby Shell
Options
--version Prints the version of irb.
-Eexternal[:internal]
--encodingexternal[:internal]
Same as `ruby -E' . Specifies the default value(s) for external encodings and internal
encoding. Values should be separated with colon (:).
You can omit the one for internal encodings, then the value (Encoding.default_internal)
willbenil.-Ipath Same as `ruby -I' . Specifies $LOAD_PATH directory
-U Same as `ruby -U' . Sets the default value for internal encodings
(Encoding.default_internal) toUTF-8.-d Same as `ruby -d' . Sets $DEBUG to true.
-f Suppresses read of ~/.irbrc.
-w Same as `ruby -w' .
-W Same as `ruby -W' .
-h--help Prints a summary of the options.
-rlibrary Same as `ruby -r'. Causes irb to load the library using require.
--inspect Uses `inspect' for output (default except for bc mode)
--noinspect Doesn't use inspect for output
--multiline Uses multiline editor module.
--nomultiline Doesn't use multiline editor module.
--singleline Uses singleline editor module.
--nosingleline
Doesn't use singleline editor module.
--extra-doc-dir
Add an extra doc dir for the doc dialog.
--echo Show result (default).
--noecho Don't show result.
--echo-on-assignment
Show result on assignment.
--noecho-on-assignment
Don't show result on assignment.
--truncate-echo-on-assignment
Show truncated result on assignment (default).
--colorize Use colorization.
--nocolorize Don't use colorization.
--autocomplete
Use autocompletion.
--noautocomplete
Don't use autocompletion.
--regexp-completor
Use regexp based completion.
--type-completor
Use type based completion.
--verbose Show details.
--noverbose Don't show details.
--promptmode--prompt-modemode
Switch prompt mode. Pre-defined prompt modes are `default', `simple', `xmp' and `inf-
ruby'.
--inf-ruby-mode
Uses prompt appropriate for inf-ruby-mode on emacs. Suppresses --multiline and
--singleline.
--simple-prompt
Makes prompts simple.
--noprompt No prompt mode.
--tracer Displays trace for each execution of commands.
--back-trace-limitn
Displays backtrace top n and tail n. The default value is 16.
Reporting Bugs
• Security vulnerabilities should be reported via an email to security@ruby-lang.org. Reported problems will be published after being fixed. • Other bugs and feature requests can be reported via the Ruby Issue Tracking System (https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/). Do not report security vulnerabilities via this system because it publishes the vulnerabilities immediately.
See Also
ruby(1).
Synopsis
irb [--version] [-dfUw] [-Idirectory] [-rlibrary] [-Eexternal[:internal]] [-W[level]] [--[no]inspect]
[--[no]multiline] [--[no]singleline] [--[no]echo] [--[no]colorize] [--[no]autocomplete]
[--[no]verbose] [--promptmode] [--prompt-modemode] [--inf-ruby-mode] [--simple-prompt] [--noprompt]
[--tracer] [--back-trace-limitn] [--] [program_file] [argument ...]
