Ternary operators in ruby

Question

Seems like there should be a better way to do this:

def some_method(argument = 'foo')
  bar = argument == 'foo' ? 'foo' : "#{argument.to_s}_foo"

  # ... do things with bar ...
end

Any ideas? I've also played around with

bar = ("#{argument}_" if argument != 'foo').to_s + argument

but if anything that seems more complicated

Answer 1

From your example, you don't seem to need different variables for foo and argument at all (that would be different if you need them both later, but from your example it doesn't seem like it).

A simplification would be:

def some_method(bar = 'foo')
  unless bar == 'foo'
    bar = "#{bar}_foo"
  end

  # Do things with bar
end

Of course, you can do the unless inline if you prefer:

bar = "#{bar}_foo" unless bar == 'foo'

Side note: You don't need to call to_s when interpolating. Ruby will do that for you.

Answer 2

If argument in your code does not become "foo" other than by default, then you can do:

def some_method *argument
  bar = [*argument, "foo"].join("_")
  ...
end