Pass active record attributes in a method

Question

I have a method, that takes an array of rails active record objects and sort those records based on the second parameter passed into the method. The method looks something like :

def sort_provider(providers, attr)
  provider.sort!(|a,b| a."#{attr}" <=> b."#{attr}")
end

When I call the method, sort_providers(providers, "name"), I get a unexpected tSTRING_BEG, expecting '('.

How do I get the method to sort the array based on the second parameter passed in?

Answer 1

Try to use send

providers.sort_by! { |a, b| a.send(attr) <=> b.send(attr) }

Answer 2

If attr is a symbol:

providers.sort_by(&attr)