irb2.1(1)

irb2.11

Interactive ruby shell

Usage

irb [--version] [-dfm] [-I directory] [-r library] [--[no]inspect] [--[no]readline] [--prompt mode] [--prompt-mode mode] [--inf-ruby-mode] [--simple-prompt] [--noprompt] [--tracer] [--back-trace-limit n] [--irb_debug n] [--] [program_file] [argument ...]

Overview

irb is the REPL(read-eval-print loop) environment for Ruby programs.

Options

--version

Prints the version of irb.

-E external[:internal]
--encoding external[: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) will be nil.

-I path

Same as `ruby -I' . Specifies $LOAD_PATH directory

-U

Same as `ruby -U' . Sets the default value for internal encodings (Encoding.default_internal) to UTF-8.

-d

Same as `ruby -d' . Sets $DEBUG to true.

-f

Suppresses read of ~/.irbrc.

-h
--help

Prints a summary of the options.

-m

Bc mode (load mathn, fraction or matrix are available)

-r library

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

--readline

Uses Readline extension module.

--noreadline

Doesn't use Readline extension module.

--prompt mode
--prompt-mode mode

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 --readline.

--simple-prompt

Makes prompts simple.

--noprompt

No prompt mode.

--tracer

Displays trace for each execution of commands.

--back-trace-limit n

Displays backtrace top n and tail n. The default value is 16.

--irb_debug n

Sets internal debug level to n (not for popular use)

Environment

IRBRC

Also irb depends on same variables as ruby(1).

Files

~/.irbrc

Personal irb initialization.

Examples

% irb
irb(main):001:0> 1 + 1
2
irb(main):002:0> def t(x)
irb(main):003:1> x+1
irb(main):004:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):005:0> t(3)
=> 4
irb(main):006:0> if t(3) == 4
irb(main):007:1> p :ok
irb(main):008:1> end
:ok
=> :ok
irb(main):009:0> quit
%

Reporting bugs

Security vulnerabilities should be reported via an email to⟨[email protected]⟩. Reported problems will be published after being fixed.

And you can report other bugs and feature requests via the Ruby Issue Tracking System (http://bugs.ruby-lang.org). Do not report security vulnerabilities via the system because it publishes the vulnerabilities immediately.

Authors

Written by Keiju ISHITSUKA.

From ruby2.1 2.1.5-2+deb8u3 in Debian 8 (Jessie). Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.