The names of a method

Klaus_Fabritius · 26 November 2002 22:13

Hello!

I want do do something like that:

def foo
puts the_name_the_method_was_called_with
end ; alias bar foo

foo => "foo"
bar => “bar”

Is there a thing like the_name_the_method_was_called_with?

Thanks in advance,

-kfk

···

–
UNIX has grown fat.

     -Rob Pike, 1983

Yukihiro_Matsumoto2 · 26 November 2002 23:54

Hi,

···

In message “The names of a method” on 02/11/27, Klaus Fabritius kfk@wasserhase.de writes:

I want do do something like that:

def foo
puts the_name_the_method_was_called_with
end ; alias bar foo

foo => “foo”
bar => “bar”

Is there a thing like the_name_the_method_was_called_with?

caller(0) may help.

% ri caller
--------------------------------------------------------- Kernel::caller
caller( [anInteger] ) → anArray

 Returns the current execution stack---an array containing strings
 in the form ``file:line'' or ``file:line: in `method'''. The
 optional anInteger parameter determines the number of initial stack
 entries to omit from the result.
    def a(skip)
      caller(skip)
    end
    def b(skip)
      a(skip)
    end
    def c(skip)
      b(skip)
    end
    c(0)   #=> ["prog:2:in `a'", "prog:5:in `b'", "prog:8:in `c'", "prog:10"]
    c(1)   #=> ["prog:5:in `b'", "prog:8:in `c'", "prog:11"]
    c(2)   #=> ["prog:8:in `c'", "prog:12"]
    c(3)   #=> ["prog:13"]

						matz.

William_Djaja_Tjokr1 · 27 November 2002 00:48

Hi,

I think this has been asked in the past; for example, see the thread
starting at http://www.ruby-talk.org/38976. One of the answers (by
Matz) is to extract it from ‘caller(0)’.

Regards,

Bill

···

Klaus Fabritius kfk@wasserhase.de wrote:

Hello!

I want do do something like that:

def foo
puts the_name_the_method_was_called_with
end ; alias bar foo

foo => “foo”
bar => “bar”

Is there a thing like the_name_the_method_was_called_with?

Austin_Ziegler2 · 27 November 2002 00:55

caller(0) may help.

% ri caller
[…]
Returns the current execution stack—an array containing strings
in the form file:line'' or file:line: in method'''. The optional anInteger parameter determines the number of initial stack entries to omit from the result. [...] c(0) #=> ["prog:2:in a’", “prog:5:in b'", "prog:8:in c’”,
“prog:10”]
c(1) #=> [“prog:5:in b'", "prog:8:in c’”, “prog:11”]
c(2) #=> [“prog:8:in `c’”, “prog:12”]
c(3) #=> [“prog:13”]

I use caller(0) in one of the functions that I’ve translated, and I
have to say that I really don’t like it for a few reasons. I’ve only
just identified the core reason that I don’t like it. It returns an
Array of Strings, which then have to be parsed in one of two
optional forms.

Shouldn’t it return an Array of Calls, where a Call contains the
same information as is in the string and, in fact, has a #to_s that
outputs in the same form as what we see above? Right now, I can’t
interact with the results of Caller in an “intuitively” OO fashion,
like I can (just about) with everything else in Ruby.

I just quickly created a simulation of it with the attached
caller.rb file, but I think that this should probably be the way
that Caller works. I’m sure there are other things that could/should
be added, but I shouldn’t have to “parse” the string manually every
time I want to deal with caller. Most of the time, I just want to
know the name of the method that called the current method.

Note that for the replacement to caller that I’m incrementing the
caller parameter by one; this is so that the fact that there’s one
more level of indirection present is hidden.

-austin
– Austin Ziegler, austin@halostatue.ca on 2002.11.26 at 19.07.57

caller.rb (751 Bytes)

···

On Wed, 27 Nov 2002 08:54:07 +0900, Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:

Klaus_Fabritius · 27 November 2002 16:47

Thanks to you and Bill.

I hoped that there is something like local_variables. Well, now it is
the first method in my own utils-package:

def method_name
/`(.+)'$/.match(caller(1)[0])[1]
end

Hm, it should be the last method in the file because it kills syntax
highlighting

-kfk

···

Yukihiro Matsumoto matz@ruby-lang.org wrote:

on 02/11/27, Klaus Fabritius kfk@wasserhase.de writes:

Is there a thing like the_name_the_method_was_called_with?

caller(0) may help.

–
UNIX has grown fat.

     -Rob Pike, 1983

Yohanes_Santoso3 · 27 November 2002 02:46

Austin Ziegler austin@halostatue.ca writes:

Shouldn’t it return an Array of Calls, where a Call contains the
same information as is in the string and, in fact, has a #to_s that

You could get the Wayne’s stack_frames patch:
http://yagni.com/stack_frames/index.php

YS.

David_Alan_Black1 · 27 November 2002 16:58

Hi –

Is there a thing like the_name_the_method_was_called_with?

caller(0) may help.

Thanks to you and Bill.

I hoped that there is something like local_variables. Well, now it is
the first method in my own utils-package:

def method_name
/`(.+)'$/.match(caller(1)[0])[1]
end

I know it’s a longshot, but:

dblack@laptop:~/hacking$ cat some`file
def method_name
/`(.+)'$/.match(caller(1)[0])[1]
end

def x
puts method_name
end

x
dblack@laptop:~/hacking$ ruby some`file
file:6:in `x
dblack@laptop:~/hacking$

I honestly don’t know what the perfect tweak would be.

David

···

On Thu, 28 Nov 2002, Klaus Fabritius wrote:

Yukihiro Matsumoto matz@ruby-lang.org wrote:

on 02/11/27, Klaus Fabritius kfk@wasserhase.de writes:

–
David Alan Black
home: dblack@candle.superlink.net
work: blackdav@shu.edu
Web: http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav

Steve_Tuckner2 · 27 November 2002 17:04

Shouldn’t there be a class to encapsulate what is returned by each array
entry in from
caller so that we don’t have to take it apart with a regex?

For example caller could return an array of ProgramCounter objects where

ProgramCounter = Struct.new(“ProgramCounter”, :filename, :linenum,
:method_name)

that way the code below would be

def method_name
caller((1)[0]).method_name
end

Steve Tuckner

···

-----Original Message-----
From: Klaus Fabritius [mailto:kfk@wasserhase.de]
Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 10:47 AM
To: ruby-talk ML
Subject: Re: The names of a method

Yukihiro Matsumoto matz@ruby-lang.org wrote:

on 02/11/27, Klaus Fabritius kfk@wasserhase.de writes:

Is there a thing like the_name_the_method_was_called_with?

caller(0) may help.

Thanks to you and Bill.

I hoped that there is something like local_variables. Well, now it is
the first method in my own utils-package:

def method_name
/`(.+)'$/.match(caller(1)[0])[1]
end

Hm, it should be the last method in the file because it kills syntax
highlighting

-kfk

–
UNIX has grown fat.
     -Rob Pike, 1983

Austin_Ziegler2 · 27 November 2002 03:42

Austin Ziegler austin@halostatue.ca writes:

Shouldn’t it return an Array of Calls, where a Call contains the
same information as is in the string and, in fact, has a #to_s
that
You could get the Wayne’s stack_frames patch:
http://yagni.com/stack_frames/index.php

I don’t particularly care for that because I don’t compile my own
version of Ruby (except on Linux, which is a fraction of my total
development time). I’d rather use something which is “standard
Ruby”. IMO, the stack_frames patch should probably become part of
standard Ruby – although the only time that I’ve needed caller(0)
so far, I just care about the immediate caller (to determine whether
the function was being called by another function in the same class;
it has a minor effect on behaviour).

-austin
– Austin Ziegler, austin@halostatue.ca on 2002.11.26 at 22.39.08

···

On Wed, 27 Nov 2002 11:46:02 +0900, Yohanes Santoso wrote:

Topic		Replies	Views
Name of method? ruby-talk	8	141	18 January 2010
method-names ruby-talk	5	339	30 August 2021
Extended information about a method's caller ruby-talk	2	121	14 March 2004
Accessing the currently running method ruby-talk	4	142	30 March 2006
Getting alias name within method ruby-talk	0	140	15 October 2011

The names of a method

% ri caller --------------------------------------------------------- Kernel::caller caller( [anInteger] ) → anArray

Related topics

% ri caller
--------------------------------------------------------- Kernel::caller
caller( [anInteger] ) → anArray