== Description
ripl is a light shell that encourages common middleware for shells i.e. rack for ruby shells. It is also a modular alternative to irb. Like irb, it loads ~/.irbrc, has autocompletion and keeps history in ~/.irb_history. Unlike irb, it is highly customizable via plugins and supports commands i.e. {ripl-play}[https://github.com/cldwalker/ripl-play#readme]. This customizability makes it easy to build custom shells (i.e. for a gem or application) and complex shells (i.e. for the {web}[https://github.com/cldwalker/nirvana#readme]). Works on ruby 1.8.7 and greater.
== Install
If you have {readline}[http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html], install ripl with:
gem install ripl
If you don't have readline, first install ripl with {a pure ruby readline}[https://github.com/luislavena/rb-readline#readme]:
gem install ripl rb-readline -- --without-readline
Then, add the following to ~/.riplrc:
Ripl.config[:readline] = 'rb-readline'
Ripl.config[:completion] = {:readline => :ruby }
== Setup
To make your first ripl experience smoother, install these plugins:
# Adds multi-line evaluation
gem install ripl-multi_line
# Ignore errors caused by irb-specific configuration in ~/.irbrc
gem install ripl-irb
# Add to ~/.riplrc
require 'ripl/multi_line'
require 'ripl/irb'
== Usage
$ ripl
>> ...
To view ripl's man page:
# If installed with rubygems
$ gem install gem-man
$ gem man ripl
# If installed with rip, man page is automatically installed
$ man ripl
== Coming from irb
When first trying ripl, you may experience errors in your ~/.irbrc due to an irb-specific configuration. In order to have ripl and irb coexist peacefully, you should silence these errors. To silence them without touching your ~/.irbrc, install the {ripl-irb}[https://github.com/cldwalker/ripl-irb#readme] gem. This ripl plugin fakes irb's existence and points to ripl equivalents for your irb configurations. Otherwise, if you don't mind modifying ~/.irbrc, wrap your irb-specific configuration in a block as follow:
if defined? IRB
IRB.conf[:BLAH] = 'blah'
# ...
end
== Comparison to Irb
Note: Irb features not in ripl can be implemented as plugins.
== Plugins
A ripl plugin is a module that is included into Ripl::Shell or extended into Ripl::Runner. Being simply modules, they can be packaged as gems and reused across shells as needed. ripl highly encourages plugins by loading them as early as possible and allowing them to extend most of ripl's functionality.
As an example plugin, let's color error messages red:
require 'ripl'
# To try place in ~/.riplrc
module Ripl
module RedError
def format_error(error)
"\e[31m#{super}\e[m"
end
end
end
Ripl::Shell.include Ripl::RedError
Note this plugin extends format_error() by invoking the original format_error() with super. This is possible for any method that is available for extension by plugins. To see what methods are available for extension, see Ripl::Shell::API and Ripl::Runner::API.
If we want to add a config for this plugin, we can simply add a key to Ripl.config that matches the underscored version of the plugin name i.e. Ripl.config[:red_error].
For available plugins, see Ripl Plugins below.
== Configuration
Since ripl is highly customizable, it loads ~/.riplrc before it does anything. This ruby file should require and/or define plugins. Any ripl configurations via Ripl.config should also be done here. For an example ~/.riplrc, see {mine}[https://github.com/cldwalker/dotfiles/tree/master/.riplrc].
== Create Custom Shells
Creating and starting a custom shell is as simple as:
require 'ripl'
# Define plugins, load files, etc...
Ripl.start
Ripl.start takes options to customize your shell. For example if you wanted to start on a specific binding:
Ripl.start :binding => MyClass.instance_eval{ binding }
== Create Commands
If you want to invoke your custom shell with ripl, make it a ripl command. To create one, create an executable in the format ripl- and make sure it's in your shell's $PATH. For example, the file ripl-my_gem would be invoked with ripl my_gem. Note that with your command you can take arguments and parse your options as you please. For an example command, see {ripl-rails}[https://github.com/cldwalker/ripl-rails#readme].
== Credits
== Bugs/Issues
Please report them {on github}[https://github.com/cldwalker/ripl/issues].
== Contributing
{See here}[http://tagaholic.me/contributing.html]
== Ripl Plugins
== Ripl Shells
Shells built on top of ripl:
== More Ripl Links
== Irb Alternatives
Some other irb alternatives to check out:
FAQs
Unknown package
We found that ripl demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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