ruby includethis or that
To include one Ruby file in another, you can use the require
or load
statement. Both statements serve a similar purpose but have some differences.
require
Statement
The require
statement is used to load and execute a Ruby file. It ensures that the file is only loaded once, even if require
is called multiple times for the same file.
Here's how you can use the require
statement:
require 'filename'
In the above code, 'filename'
represents the name of the file you want to include. You don't need to specify the file extension (e.g., .rb
) when using require
.
The require
statement searches for the file in the load path, which includes directories specified by the RUBYLIB
environment variable, any directories specified with the -I
option when running the Ruby interpreter, and standard system directories.
If the file is found, it is loaded and executed. If the file has already been loaded, it won't be loaded again.
load
Statement
The load
statement is used to load and execute a Ruby file, just like require
. However, unlike require
, load
doesn't keep track of which files have been loaded before. This means that if you call load
multiple times for the same file, it will be loaded and executed each time.
Here's how you can use the load
statement:
load 'filename'
Similar to require
, 'filename'
represents the name of the file you want to include. Again, you don't need to specify the file extension.
The load
statement searches for the file in the current directory unless an absolute or relative path is provided. If the file is found, it is loaded and executed.
Conclusion
In summary, the require
statement is used to load and execute a Ruby file, ensuring that it is only loaded once. On the other hand, the load
statement also loads and executes a Ruby file but doesn't keep track of whether the file has already been loaded.