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.