# Finding the location of libraries **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [1 February 2005 17:00 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/finding-the-location-of-libraries/16187 "2005-02-01T17:00:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Claus\_Spitzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Claus\_Spitzer](https://rubytalk.org/u/Claus_Spitzer)\ **Post date:** [1 February 2005 17:00 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/finding-the-location-of-libraries/16187/1 "2005-02-01T17:00:37Z")
Greetings fellow rubyists! I am looking for a way of checking which location a library I use is at. Let me demonstrate with an example: Let's assume that I have a hypotetical programa program, foo.rb . That program requires a library, as in    require 'bar' The problem is, I have 4 different versions of bar.rb and one [bar.so](http://bar.so), and would like to know which one I am using. How would I go around figuring this out? Cheers!   -C.W.S. ---
**Author:** ![Zach\_Dennis1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea5d25/32.png) [@Zach\_Dennis1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Zach_Dennis1)\ **Post date:** [1 February 2005 17:07 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/finding-the-location-of-libraries/16187/2 "2005-02-01T17:07:36Z")
Claus Spitzer wrote: > Greetings fellow rubyists! I am looking for a way of checking which location a library I use is > at. Let me demonstrate with an example: > > Let's assume that I have a hypotetical programa program, foo.rb . That > program requires a library, as in >    require 'bar' > > The problem is, I have 4 different versions of bar.rb and one bar.so, > and would like to know which one I am using. How would I go around > figuring this out? If you know what you are looking for you can search the $: global variable which houses the paths that ruby looks in for files. require "time" $:.each do |path|     puts "#{path}/time.rb" if File.exist?( "#{path}/time.rb" ) end here i cheated because I knew I was looking for time. A better solution is: def require( what )     super     $:.each do |path|        puts "#{path}/#{what}.rb" if File.exist?( "#{path}/time.rb" )     end end require "time" but this will give you output for every required file. Example when I required "time" I get the following output: ---------- Capture Output ---------- \> "c:\ruby\bin\ruby.exe" loadtest.rb -d c:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/rational.rb c:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/date/format.rb c:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/parsedate.rb c:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/time.rb HTH, Zach ---
**Author:** ![Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e95f7d/32.png) [@Robert](https://rubytalk.org/u/Robert)\ **Post date:** [1 February 2005 17:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/finding-the-location-of-libraries/16187/3 "2005-02-01T17:20:48Z")
"Claus Spitzer" \ schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:bb13341905020109007036e0d3@mail.gmail.com... > Greetings fellow rubyists! > I am looking for a way of checking which location a library I use is > at. Let me demonstrate with an example: > > Let's assume that I have a hypotetical programa program, foo.rb . That > program requires a library, as in >    require 'bar' > > The problem is, I have 4 different versions of bar.rb and one bar.so, > and would like to know which one I am using. How would I go around > figuring this out? ruby -e '$LOAD\_PATH.each {|dir| p Dir[File.join(dir,"bar.\*")]}' ruby -e 'puts $LOAD\_PATH.select {|dir| ! Dir[File.join(dir,"bar.\*")].empty?}' Kind regards     robert ---
**Author:** ![Zach\_Dennis1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea5d25/32.png) [@Zach\_Dennis1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Zach_Dennis1)\ **Post date:** [1 February 2005 17:15 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/finding-the-location-of-libraries/16187/4 "2005-02-01T17:15:23Z")
I had a typo in my last post, the second code fragment should be: def require( what )     super     $:.each do |path|        puts "#{path}/#{what}.rb" if File.exist?( "#{path}/#{what}.rb" )     end end require "time" HTH, Zach ---
**Author:** ![Claus\_Spitzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Claus\_Spitzer](https://rubytalk.org/u/Claus_Spitzer)\ **Post date:** [3 February 2005 20:34 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/finding-the-location-of-libraries/16187/5 "2005-02-03T20:34:59Z")
Awesome! Thanks to both you and Zach. > **ยทยทยท** > > On Wed, 2 Feb 2005 02:20:48 +0900, Robert Klemme \ wrote: > > > "Claus Spitzer" \ schrieb im Newsbeitrag > > news:bb13341905020109007036e0d3@mail.gmail.com... > > \> Greetings fellow rubyists! > > \> I am looking for a way of checking which location a library I use is > > \> at. Let me demonstrate with an example: > > \> > > \> Let's assume that I have a hypotetical programa program, foo.rb . That > > \> program requires a library, as in > > \> require 'bar' > > \> > > \> The problem is, I have 4 different versions of bar.rb and one bar.so, > > \> and would like to know which one I am using. How would I go around > > \> figuring this out? > > > > ruby -e '$LOAD\_PATH.each {|dir| p Dir[File.join(dir,"bar.\*")]}' > > ruby -e 'puts $LOAD\_PATH.select {|dir| ! > > Dir[File.join(dir,"bar.\*")].empty?}' > > > > Kind regards > > > >     robert