Feature #7121: Extending the use of `require'

• Status: Assigned
• Assignee: matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto)
• Target version: -

[mjones (Morgan Jones)]

I was playing with Ruby tonight and thought up an interesting idea to make (({require})) a bit better, so you can load multiple files sequentially using one method call.

Currently, (({require})) supports one argument, and throws a (({TypeError})) if you pass an array:

 irb(main):001:0> require %w(json yaml)
 TypeError: can't convert Array into String

However, there's a way to patch Kernel that makes it respond to multiple objects passed in an (({Array})).

 module Kernel
   @@require = method :require

   def require *args
     args.flatten!
     args.collect! do |a|
       raise ArgumentError.new "arguments to `require' must be strings or symbols" unless a.is_a?(String) || a.is_a?(Symbol)
       @@require.call a.to_s
     end

     args.length == 1 ? args.first : args
   end
 end

The new behavior doesn't actually require the modification of any code that calls (({require})) (pretty much anything, really), and new code can take advantage of the new functionality instantly.

 irb> require %w(json yaml)
 => [true, false]
 irb> require :pp
 => false
 irb> require 'rails'
 => true
 irb> require %w(json yaml), :pp, 'rails'
 => [true, false, false, true]

Thanks for considering this.

[wardrop (Tom Wardrop)]

I personally don't mind your suggestion. It makes sense to me. I can't think of any potential negative side effects. On that note, I think the return value should always be a boolean, instead of a boolean OR an array of booleans depending on the input. #require should return true if any of the listed files were loaded, or false if none of them were. If you need to determine the loaded state of each file (the lesser common use case I'd imagine), then you should resort to looping over multiple calls to #require.

[mame (Yusuke Endoh)]

• Status changed from Open to Assigned
• Assignee set to matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto)
• Target version set to 2.6

[trans (Thomas Sawyer)]

It's ugly, as it makes code harder to read. Please no.

[prijutme4ty (Ilya Vorontsov)]

Just an alternative idea. What about using Regexp as an alternative to String?
require /.*_helper/

[naruse (Yui NARUSE)]

• Target version deleted (2.6)

[hsbt (Hiroshi SHIBATA)]

• Description updated (diff)

[hsbt (Hiroshi SHIBATA)]

• Related to Feature #14927: Loading multiple files at once added

[hsbt (Hiroshi SHIBATA)]

• Related to Feature #12858: Supporting batch-requiring of files in ruby added