Question

I want to test whether a equals 1 or 2

I could do

a == 1 || a == 2

but this requires repeating a (which would be annoying for longer variables)

I’d like to do something like a == (1 || 2), but obviously this won’t work

I could do [1, 2].include?(a), which is not bad, but strikes me as a bit harder to read

Just wondering how do to this with idiomatic ruby

Answer 1

Your first method is idiomatic Ruby. Unfortunately Ruby doesn’t have an equivalent of Python’s a in [1,2], which I think would be nicer. Your [1,2].include? a is the nearest alternative, and I think it’s a little backwards from the most natural way.

Of course, if you use this a lot, you could do this:

class Object
  def member_of? container
    container.include? self
  end
end

and then you can do a.member_of? [1, 2].