ruby capture input when using pipes

Question

I have a script that runs via a pipe and it doesn't seem to want to capture user input.

This is the simplest example:

  echo "gets.chomp" | ruby
 -:1: private method `chomp' called for nil:NilClass (NoMethodError)

The goal is to confirm an action (Are you sure you want to do this? yes / no: ). How can I capture input when using pipes?

What are you trying to accomplish? Give us the broader picture. You are passing in a literal string "gets.chomp" from your shell to ruby interpreter. — Anand Shah
– Anand Shah, Commented Oct 1, 2012 at 13:25
I'm creating a script someone can download and execute. 'curl something.rb | ruby'. Part of the script requires confirmation. I want to ask the user: are you sure you want to continue? yes/no. He writes yes or no and I check the response. — MB.
– MB., Commented Oct 1, 2012 at 13:58
You're going about it wrong. You don't need to do it in Ruby when your shell can do it all easily. See "How do I prompt a user for confirmation in bash script?. — the Tin Man
– the Tin Man, Commented Oct 1, 2012 at 15:52

MB. · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-04 16:50:47Z

1

$stdin = IO.new(IO.sysopen('/dev/tty', 'r'), 'r')

answered Jan 4, 2013 at 16:50

MB.

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1 Comment

Thanks for this. Here are a couple informative articles I found on the topic from Thoughbot and StackExchange