Ruby Language Operators Assignment Operators
Example
Simple Assignment
= is a simple assignment. It creates a new local variable if the variable was not previously referenced.
x = 3
y = 4 + 5
puts "x is #{x}, y is #{y}"
This will output:
x is 3, y is 9
Parallel Assignment
Variables can also be assigned in parallel, e.g. x, y = 3, 9. This is especially useful for swapping values:
x, y = 3, 9
x, y = y, x
puts "x is #{x}, y is #{y}"
This will output:
x is 9, y is 3
Abbreviated Assignment
It's possible to mix operators and assignment. For example:
x = 1
y = 2
puts "x is #{x}, y is #{y}"
x += y
puts "x is now #{x}"
Shows the following output:
x is 1, y is 2
x is now 3
Various operations can be used in abbreviated assignment:
| Operator | Description | Example | Equivalent to |
|---|---|---|---|
+= | Adds and reassigns the variable | x += y | x = x + y |
-= | Subtracts and reassigns the variable | x -= y | x = x - y |
*= | Multiplies and reassigns the variable | x *= y | x = x * y |
/= | Divides and reassigns the variable | x /= y | x = x / y |
%= | Divides, takes the remainder, and reassigns the variable | x %= y | x = x % y |
**= | Calculates the exponent and reassigns the variable | x **= y | x = x ** y |
