Rails - Dec 2005 - Accessing an instance variable by its name (as a string)

Hi (again!)
I have a function which gets passed the name of an instance variable,
and spits its out all nicely formatted.
Just wondering, how do i access the variable, when all i have is its 
name stored as a string?

So far i''ve got this code, but it looks horrible. Is there a better
way?

eval("@" << inst_var_name << "." <<
field_name << ".to_s")

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On Thu, Dec 22, 2005 at 06:20:47AM +0100, Chris Hulbert
wrote:
> Hi (again!)
> I have a function which gets passed the name of an instance variable,
> and spits its out all nicely formatted.
> Just wondering, how do i access the variable, when all i have is its 
> name stored as a string?
> 
> So far i''ve got this code, but it looks horrible. Is there a
better way?
> 
> eval("@" << inst_var_name << "." <<
field_name << ".to_s")
  >> @ivar = ''nine horses''
  => "nine horses"
  >> name = ''ivar''
  => "ivar"
  >> instance_variable_get("@#{name}")
  => "nine horses"
  >> field_name = ''size''
  => "size"
  >> instance_variable_get("@#{name}").send field_name
  => 11

marcel
-- 
Marcel Molina Jr. <marcel-WRrfy3IlpWYdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org>

Thanks a lot ! Worked a treat.

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