How To Echo In Ruby

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In this blog post, we will learn how to echo, or print text to the console, in Ruby.

Echoing is a simple concept that is useful when we want to display a message or show the value of a variable. This is especially helpful during the development and debugging process. Let’s jump straight into how to echo text in Ruby.

Using the ‘puts’ method

In Ruby, the most common way to echo text is by using the puts method. The puts method writes the given object(s) to the output, followed by a newline, which ensures that each call to puts starts on a new line.

Here’s an example of using puts: 

    puts "Hello, World!"

The output for the above code will be: 

    Hello, World!

You can also use puts to display the value of a variable: 

    my_variable = 42
    puts my_variable

The output for the above code will be: 

    42

Using the ‘print’ method

Another way to echo in Ruby is by using the print method. The main difference between puts and print is that print does not add a newline character to the output. This means that consecutive calls to print will display the output on the same line.

Here’s an example of using print: 

    print "Hello, "
    print "World!"

The output for the above code will be: 

    Hello, World!

Using string interpolation

Sometimes you may want to include the value of a variable within a string. In Ruby, you can achieve this using string interpolation. String interpolation allows you to insert the value of a variable directly into a string using a special syntax. To interpolate a variable in a string, simply wrap it with curly braces ({}) and precede it with a hash (#) symbol within a double-quoted string.

Here’s an example of using string interpolation with the puts method: 

    name = "John"
    age = 30
    puts "My name is #{name} and I am #{age} years old."

The output for the above code will be: 

    My name is John and I am 30 years old.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we covered how to echo in Ruby using the puts and print methods, as well as how to use string interpolation to display the value of a variable within a string. These techniques are fundamental to the Ruby programming language and will greatly help you in your development process.