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IRB stands for "interactive Ruby" and is a tool to interactively execute Ruby expressions read from the standard input.

Theirb command from your shell will start the interpreter.

To install it withbundler, add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem'irb'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it directly with:

$ gem install irb

You can start a fresh IRB session by typingirb in your terminal.

In the session, you can evaluate Ruby expressions or even prototype a small Ruby script. An input is executed when it is syntactically complete.

$ irbirb(main):001> 1 + 2=> 3irb(main):002* class Fooirb(main):003*   def fooirb(main):004*     puts 1irb(main):005*   endirb(main):006> end=> :fooirb(main):007> Foo.new.foo1=> nil

If you use Ruby 2.5 or later versions, you can also usebinding.irb in your program as breakpoints.

Once abinding.irb is evaluated, a new IRB session will be started with the surrounding context:

$ ruby test.rbFrom: test.rb @ line 2:    1: def greet(word) => 2:   binding.irb    3:   puts"Hello #{word}"    4: end    5:    6: greet("World")irb(main):001:0> word=>"World"irb(main):002:0>exitHello World

You can use IRB as a debugging console withdebug.gem with these options:

• Inbinding.irb, use thedebug command to start anirb:rdbg session with access to alldebug.gem commands.
• Use theRUBY_DEBUG_IRB_CONSOLE=1 environment variable to makedebug.gem use IRB as the debugging console.

To learn more about debugging with IRB, seeDebugging with IRB.

https://ruby.github.io/irb/ provides a comprehensive guide to IRB's features and usage.

See theConfiguration page in the documentation.

IRBv1.13.0 and later versions allows users/libraries to extend its functionality through official APIs.

For more information, please visit theIRB Extension Guide.

SeeCONTRIBUTING.md for more information.

rake releasegh release create vX.Y.Z --generate-notes

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the2-Clause BSD License.