What command opens Ruby's REPL?

ruby read-eval-print-loop
Jian picture Jian · Nov 2, 2012 · Viewed 31.5k times · Source

What command opens Ruby's REPL?

In Python, you simply open python without any arguments.

Answer

Jörg W Mittag picture Jörg W Mittag · Nov 2, 2012

There are several REPLs for Ruby.

The standard library ships with a REPL called IRb (for Interactive Ruby), which installs a program named irb, but since it is just a Ruby library, it can also be invoked from Ruby code and not just from the shell. On Rubinius, IRb can also be invoked by just calling the rbx program without arguments, just like in CPython.

There is also a very nice REPL called Pry, which installs a program named pry, but since it is just a Ruby library, it can also be invoked from Ruby code and not just from the shell.

JRuby comes with an additional REPL called JIRb Swing, which is invoked by calling the jirb_swing program.

The NetBeans Ruby Plugin also comes with a REPL.

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