Question

In RoR, what does the % part of %h2 mean? It’s in a html.haml file. Another file has = signs in front of everything – what does that mean?

Answer 1

That’s a html.haml file. HAML is an ERB alternative. The % means it’s an HTML tag (<h2> in this case), the = means Ruby code.

Here’s an ERB translation:

<h1>Conversations</h1>
<h2>Inbox</h2>
  <ul><%= render mailbox.inbox %></ul>
<h2>Sentbox</h2>
  <ul><%= render mailbox.sentbox %></ul>
<h2>Trash</h2>
  <ul><%= render mailbox.trash %></ul>

<%= link_to 'Start Conversation', :new_conversation %>