IHelp lets you view the ri documentation of an object from Ruby.
Perfect for irb.
sudo gem install ihelp
Downloads: http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=2597
Documentation: http://ihelp.rubyforge.org
Project page: http://rubyforge.org/projects/ihelp/
CHANGES
Now with Ruby 1.8.5 compatability fixes and an emacs renderer from rubikitch.
QUICK USAGE
"Hmm, how did String#center work again?"
String.help:center
"What is this object and what can i do with it?"
object.help
"Someone told me that I should look up Mutex#synchronize...
but I don't have that loaded."
help "Mutex#synchronize"
LOADING AUTOMATICALLY IN IRB
Add the following to your .irbrc:
# Loading RI may take a second or two so let's make it
# snappier by loading in the background.
Thread.new do require 'ihelp' end
## Renderer to use, one of 'ri', 'rubydoc', 'emacs', 'source', 'html'
## default is 'ri'
# IHelp.renderer = 'rubydoc'
## Web browser to use with renderers 'rubydoc' and 'html'
## default is 'firefox'
# IHelp.web_browser = 'konqueror'