Question

In Ruby, I am trying to write a line that uses a variable if it has been set, otherwise default to some value:

myvar = # assign it to ENV['MY_VAR'], otherwise assign it to 'foobar'

I could write this code like this:

if ENV['MY_VAR'].is_set? #whatever the function is to check if has been set
  myvar = ENV['MY_VAR']
else
  myvar = 'foobar'
end

But this is rather verbose, and I’m trying to write it in the most concise way possible. How can I do this?

Answer 1

myvar = ENV['MY_VAR'] || 'foobar'

N.B. This is slightly incorrect (if the hash can contain the value nil) but since ENV contains just strings it is probably good enough.