Ruby: nested if statements

Question

I was writing some code and it ended up being way too ugly to my liking. Is there anyway that I can refactor it so that I don't use nested if statements?

def hours_occupied(date)
  #assuming date is a valid date object    
  availability = get_work_hours(date)
  focus = "work"

  if availability.nil
    availability = get_family_hours(date)
    focus = "family"

    if availability.nil
      availability = get_friend_hours(date)
      focus = "friends"
    end
  end
end

I know I'll be able to do something like this for availability

availability = get_work_hours(date) || get_family_hours(date) || get_friend_hours(date)

but how do I set the focus variable accordingly?

Answer 1

I would do something like the following as it makes it clear that each case is mutually exclusive:

def hours_occupied(date)
  if availability = get_work_hours(date)
    focus = "work"
  elsif availability = get_family_hours(date)
    focus = "family"
  elsif availability = get_friend_hours(date)
    focus = "friends"
  end
end