Question

I’m new to Ruby, and I found the <%= @my_variable %> a little lengthy and less readable. Shouldn’t erb have something like ${@my_variable} (like the good old Velocity engine in Java)?

Answer 1

erb, as its name suggests, is intended for embedded ruby code. I don’t think it has any other syntax beyond the following recognised tags:

<% Ruby code -- inline with output %>
<%= Ruby expression -- replace with result %>
<%# comment -- ignored -- useful in testing %>
% a line of Ruby code -- treated as <% line %> (optional -- see ERB.new)
%% replaced with % if first thing on a line and % processing is used
<%% or %%> -- replace with <% or %> respectively

If you don’t like erb syntax there are other alternative template engines for Ruby. Take a look at Haml, Liquid, Mustache or Tenjin.