To_s and to_str

ruby-talk
1

Here's what I've learned so far.
1) Every object has to_s because Object provides a default implementation.
2) Some classes override to_s to return a more useful String.
3) to_str should only be implemented in classes whose objects can
logically be used as Strings.

If you're going to implement to_str in a class, is there a reason why
it might return something different than to_s? Is one considered a
human-readable representation and the other something else?

Isn't "can be logically used as Strings" a somewhat subjective thing?

···

--
R. Mark Volkmann
Partner, Object Computing, Inc.

2

Here's what I've learned so far.
1) Every object has to_s because Object provides a default implementation.
2) Some classes override to_s to return a more useful String.
3) to_str should only be implemented in classes whose objects can
logically be used as Strings.

If you're going to implement to_str in a class, is there a reason why
it might return something different than to_s? Is one considered a
human-readable representation and the other something else?

to_s is rather human readable while to_str should return a string
representation of the value that might be used to reconstruct it. Note
that you should have both even if they return the same because to_str
is used in some methods to convert parameters.

Isn't "can be logically used as Strings" a somewhat subjective thing?

Yes.

Kind regards

robert

···

2005/8/26, Mark Volkmann <r.mark.volkmann@gmail.com>:

3

Mark Volkmann wrote:

Here's what I've learned so far.
1) Every object has to_s because Object provides a default

implementation.

2) Some classes override to_s to return a more useful String.
3) to_str should only be implemented in classes whose objects can
logically be used as Strings.

If you're going to implement to_str in a class, is there a reason why
it might return something different than to_s? Is one considered a
human-readable representation and the other something else?

Isn't "can be logically used as Strings" a somewhat subjective thing?

class MyInteger
~ def to_s
~ "MyInteger has this value: #{@value}"
~ end

~ def to_str
~ "#{@value}"
~ end
end

I would say that to_str is more of a programmatically readable type
of string... think of it more as a type conversion from the object's
native value and the String value, whereas to_s is something more
"pretty".

Regs,
D

- --
Derek Wyatt - C++ / Ruby / Unix Programmer

4

Here's what I've learned so far.
1) Every object has to_s because Object provides a default implementation.
2) Some classes override to_s to return a more useful String.
3) to_str should only be implemented in classes whose objects can
logically be used as Strings.

If you're going to implement to_str in a class, is there a reason why
it might return something different than to_s? Is one considered a
human-readable representation and the other something else?

I think every time I've implemented to_str (rare for me) it just called to_s, yes, though it's clear others differ on this.

To me, the functionality of the methods isn't what differs so much, it's when they're called. A call to to_s means (to me), convert this object to a String. The more implicit to_str is me telling Ruby, this object behaves as a String.

Ruby seems to back that idea up too:

irb(main):001:0> class A
irb(main):002:1> def to_s; "converted"; end
irb(main):003:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):004:0> class B
irb(main):005:1> def to_str; "behaves as"; end
irb(main):006:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):007:0> "A String: " + A.new
TypeError: cannot convert A into String
         from (irb):7:in `+'
         from (irb):7
irb(main):008:0> "A String: " + B.new
=> "A String: behaves as"

Isn't "can be logically used as Strings" a somewhat subjective thing?

Clearly it is, yes.

James Edward Gray II

···

On Aug 26, 2005, at 10:03 AM, Mark Volkmann wrote:
         from :0

5

Here's another example that shows cases when to_s and to_str are used.

class Foo
  def to_s
    'to_s'
  end
  def to_str
    'to_str'
  end
end

f = Foo.new
puts f # outputs to_s
puts 'concat ' + f # outputs concat to_str
puts "substitute #{f}" outputs substitute to_s

···

--
R. Mark Volkmann
Partner, Object Computing, Inc.