Question

I am curious about a feature of the .each method.

a = 1 
b = 2

[a,b].each do |x|
  puts x
end

Is there a way for ruby to return the variable “a” rather than the value 1?

Answer 1

It doesn’t return 1, it returns [1, 2], the each method returns what it iterated over.

> a = 1
=> 1
> b = 2
=> 2
> r = [a, b].each { |x| puts x }
1
2
=> [1, 2]
> p r.inspect
"[1, 2]"

If you’re asking if you can “go backwards” from the array value, or the variable inside the iteration block, I don’t see how. If you were iterating over a map with key/value pairs, yes.

> m = { a: 1, b: 2}
=> {:a=>1, :b=>2}
> m.each { |k, v| p "#{k} = #{v}" }
"a = 1"
"b = 2"