Understanding Ruby IO Operations

Introduction

When working with Ruby, understanding Input/Output (IO) operations is essential for interacting with files, databases, and other external sources of data. In this article, we will explore the basics of Ruby IO operations and how to effectively use them in your code.

Reading from a File

Opening a File

To read from a file in Ruby, you first need to open the file using the File.open method. Here's an example:


file = File.open("example.txt", "r")

Reading from a File

Once the file is open, you can read its contents using the read method. Here's how you can read the entire file:


content = file.read
puts content

Closing a File

After you have finished reading from the file, it is important to close it using the close method to free up system resources:


file.close

Writing to a File

Opening a File for Writing

To write to a file in Ruby, you can open the file in write mode using the File.open method with the "w" flag. Here's an example:


file = File.open("output.txt", "w")

Writing to a File

Once the file is open for writing, you can use the puts method to write content to the file. Here's an example:


file.puts "Hello, World!"

Closing a File

After you have finished writing to the file, remember to close it using the close method:


file.close

Working with Standard Input and Output

Reading from Standard Input

In Ruby, you can read input from the standard input (usually the keyboard) using the gets method. Here's an example:


puts "Enter your name:"
name = gets.chomp
puts "Hello, #{name}!"

Writing to Standard Output

To output data to the standard output (usually the console), you can use the puts method. Here's an example:


puts "Hello, World!"

Conclusion

Understanding Ruby IO operations is crucial for working with files, databases, and other external sources of data in your Ruby applications. By following the examples and guidelines in this article, you can effectively read from and write to files, as well as interact with standard input and output in your Ruby code.