Ruby variable that embeds html tags

Jacob
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:13:36 -0000

This seems very simple, but I can''t quite get it. Probably because
I''m
just starting out with RoR.

My view has a slew of labels and text fields; many are "required":

<%= f.text_field :screen_name %> <span
class="required_field">Required
field

(The "required_field" class turns the text red and smaller.)
I''d like
to not have everything between and sitting at the end
of every required line. I''d like instead to use a variable:

<% req = "Required
field" %>

And then have
<%= f.text_field :screen_name %> <%= req %>

Shorter and DRYer. But when I do that, I get my HTML printed to the
screen, not interpreted.

Help appreciated. Thanks!
Jacob