Question

If I define a Ruby functions like this:

def ldap_get ( base_dn, filter, scope=LDAP::LDAP_SCOPE_SUBTREE, attrs=nil )

How can I call it supplying only the first 2 and the last args? Why isn’t something like

ldap_get( base_dn, filter, , X)

possible or if it is possible, how can it be done?

Answer 1

This isn’t possible with ruby currently. You can’t pass ’empty’ attributes to methods. The closest you can get is to pass nil:

ldap_get(base_dn, filter, nil, X)

However, this will set the scope to nil, not LDAP::LDAP_SCOPE_SUBTREE.

What you can do is set the default value within your method:

def ldap_get(base_dn, filter, scope = nil, attrs = nil)
  scope ||= LDAP::LDAP_SCOPE_SUBTREE
  ... do something ...
end

Now if you call the method as above, the behaviour will be as you expect.