Ruby default values error

Question

I was reading the source code of a gem "activerecord-postgres-earthdistance".

While running the migration script, it threw an error on the following method

def order_by_distance lat, lng, order: "ASC"

It gave an error for order: "ASC"

syntax error, unexpected tLABEL

Isn't this valid Ruby syntax?

bjhaid · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-07T16:44:46.767

Ruby 2.0 supports keywords arguments

[5] pry(main)> def bar(a: "name", b: "fem"); puts a,b end
[6] pry(main)> bar(a: "John", b: "Male")
John
Male
[7] pry(main)> bar("John", "Male")
ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments (2 for 0)
from (pry):5:in `bar'

However the above is not valid in 1.9 see below:

ruby 1.9.3p448 (2013-06-27 revision 41675) [x86_64-darwin12.4.0]
[2] pry(main)> def bar(a: "name", b: "fem"); puts a,b end
SyntaxError: unexpected ',', expecting $end
def bar(a: "name", b: "fem"); puts a,b end
              ^
[2] pry(main)> def bar(a: "name"); puts a end
SyntaxError: unexpected ')', expecting $end
def bar(a: "name"); puts a end
              ^

For better understanding you can read here and here

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:21

0

def order_by_distance(lat, lng, hash={})
  puts hash[:order]
end

=> order_by_distance(lat, lng, order: "ASC")
=> "ASC"

use hash arguments in ruby

edited May 23 '17 at 12:21

Community

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answered Dec 07 '13 at 13:56

Roman Kiselenko

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I tried that too def foo( a, b: "ASC") puts "runs" end It gives the error `syntax error, unexpected ')', expecting $end` – JunaidKirkire Dec 07 '13 at 13:58
what `ruby` version you use? – Roman Kiselenko Dec 07 '13 at 13:59
`ruby 1.9.3p194 (2012-04-20 revision 35410) [x86_64-linux]` – JunaidKirkire Dec 07 '13 at 14:00
`def foo( a, b: "ASC") puts "runs" end` inline? – Roman Kiselenko Dec 07 '13 at 14:00
for inline use need `def foo( a, b: "ASC"); puts "runs"; end` – Roman Kiselenko Dec 07 '13 at 14:01
Here are the full stack error `earth_distance.rb:1: syntax error, unexpected tLABEL def foo( a, b: "ASC" ) ^ earth_distance.rb:1: syntax error, unexpected ')', expecting $end` – JunaidKirkire Dec 07 '13 at 14:03
read [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16576477/how-do-functions-use-hash-arguments-in-ruby) – Roman Kiselenko Dec 07 '13 at 14:05
let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/42705/discussion-between-junaidkirkire-and-monk-code) – JunaidKirkire Dec 07 '13 at 14:10

Ruby default values error

2 Answers2