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namespace :git do
  desc "let's you clone a git repo by passing username and repo"
  task :clone, :user, :repo do |t, args|
    user = args[:user]
    repo = args[:repo]
    if system "git clone git@github.com:#{user}/#{repo}.git"
      puts "Repository: #{repo} cloned successfully"
    else
      puts "There was a problem with your request, please try again later."
    end
  end
end

Can anyone explain why we take t as an argument here and the use of t in this task.

Aaquib Jawed
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  • Where did you get that code? It does not look particularly well polished. There is a typo in the description, and like you pointed out there is an unused argument (which normally would be named with an underscore). – BenFenner Jul 23 '22 at 21:43
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    _"the use of t in this task"_ – if you look closely you’ll see that `t` is never used. – Stefan Jul 24 '22 at 08:49
  • This is the task object, and since you don't use it, you better name the parameter `_` instead of `t`, to avoid about a possible warning about a variable being defined, but never used. – user1934428 Jul 25 '22 at 07:01

2 Answers2

1

Task gets a block:

  • The first argument of the block “t” is the current task object.
  • The second argument “args” allows access to the task arguments.

See rake rdoc

The first argument t is not used at all in your example.

Christian
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1

The first argument of the task definition block is the task object itself, an instance of the Rake::Task class.

If you ask "why do I need it" - you probably don't need it (yet?), but in general, it gives you an access to the task's state and instance methods, and therefore more control on how the task is executed.

For example, by default Rake engine tracks the tasks that were executed and doesn't execute them on consequent invocation attempts in the same chain, but having access to the task object you can call reenable on it, making its invocation possible again. Or you can enhance the task with some prerequisites dynamically etc etc etc.

Konstantin Strukov
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