I did some searching found some different methods and posts about creating a deep copy operator.
Is there a quick and easy (built-in) way to deep copy objects in Ruby? The fields are not arrays or hashes.
Working in Ruby 1.9.2.
Deep copy isn't built into vanilla Ruby, but you can hack it by marshalling and unmarshalling the object:
Marshal.load(Marshal.dump(@object))
This isn't perfect though, and won't work for all objects. A more robust method:
class Object
def deep_clone
return @deep_cloning_obj if @deep_cloning
@deep_cloning_obj = clone
@deep_cloning_obj.instance_variables.each do |var|
val = @deep_cloning_obj.instance_variable_get(var)
begin
@deep_cloning = true
val = val.deep_clone
rescue TypeError
next
ensure
@deep_cloning = false
end
@deep_cloning_obj.instance_variable_set(var, val)
end
deep_cloning_obj = @deep_cloning_obj
@deep_cloning_obj = nil
deep_cloning_obj
end
end
Source:
http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-list/43424