Ruby #try Operator

In Rails, there's a #try method that will attempt to call a method on an object. If the caller is not nil, it will return the result of the "tried" method. If the caller is nil, try will return nil:

chicken.try(:farm) # => "delicious" (assuming chicken is an object whose #farm function returns "delicious")

# otherwise

chicken.try(:farm) => nil

Ruby 2.3.0 introduced the Safe Navigation Operator &. that is a shorthand for the try method.

chicken&.farm # => "delicious" (assuming chicken is an object whose #farm function returns "delicious")

# otherwise

chicken&.farm => nil

(Shouts out to Dorian)