Today I Learned

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Ruby defined? method evaluation

Today I learned that Ruby Object method defined? evaluates if the argument is anything recognizable, not just if the variable are set. Here are some examples:

undefined_foo #=> NameError: undefined local variable or method `undefined_foo'
defined? undefined_foo #=> nil

defined? nil #=> "nil"

defined? "foo" #=> "expression"
defined? [] #=> "expression"
defined? def x; end #=> "expression"
defined? class Foo; end #=> "expression"

defined? @foo = :bar #=> "assignment"

@foo = :bar
defined? @foo #=> "instance-variable"

foo = :bar
defined? foo #=> "local-variable"

def foo; end
defined? foo() #=> "method"

class Foo; end
defined? Foo #=> "constant"

h/t @VidalEkechukwu

See More #ruby TILs
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