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instance method

Module#const_defined?

mod.const_defined?(sym, inherit=true) → true or false

mod.const_defined?(str, inherit=true) → true or false

static VALUE
rb_mod_const_defined(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE mod)
{
    VALUE name, recur;
    rb_encoding *enc;
    const char *pbeg, *p, *path, *pend;
    ID id;

    rb_check_arity(argc, 1, 2);
    name = argv[0];
    recur = (argc == 1) ? Qtrue : argv[1];

    if (SYMBOL_P(name)) {
        if (!rb_is_const_sym(name)) goto wrong_name;
        id = rb_check_id(&name);
        if (!id) return Qfalse;
        return RTEST(recur) ? rb_const_defined(mod, id) : rb_const_defined_at(mod, id);
    }

    path = StringValuePtr(name);
    enc = rb_enc_get(name);

    if (!rb_enc_asciicompat(enc)) {
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "invalid class path encoding (non ASCII)");
    }

    pbeg = p = path;
    pend = path + RSTRING_LEN(name);

    if (p >= pend || !*p) {
        goto wrong_name;
    }

    if (p + 2 < pend && p[0] == ':' && p[1] == ':') {
        mod = rb_cObject;
        p += 2;
        pbeg = p;
    }

    while (p < pend) {
        VALUE part;
        long len, beglen;

        while (p < pend && *p != ':') p++;

        if (pbeg == p) goto wrong_name;

        id = rb_check_id_cstr(pbeg, len = p-pbeg, enc);
        beglen = pbeg-path;

        if (p < pend && p[0] == ':') {
            if (p + 2 >= pend || p[1] != ':') goto wrong_name;
            p += 2;
            pbeg = p;
        }

        if (!id) {
            part = rb_str_subseq(name, beglen, len);
            OBJ_FREEZE(part);
            if (!rb_is_const_name(part)) {
                name = part;
                goto wrong_name;
            }
            else {
                return Qfalse;
            }
        }
        if (!rb_is_const_id(id)) {
            name = ID2SYM(id);
            goto wrong_name;
        }

#if 0
        mod = rb_const_search(mod, id, beglen > 0 || !RTEST(recur), RTEST(recur), FALSE);
        if (mod == Qundef) return Qfalse;
#else
        if (!RTEST(recur)) {
            if (!rb_const_defined_at(mod, id))
                return Qfalse;
            if (p == pend) return Qtrue;
            mod = rb_const_get_at(mod, id);
        }
        else if (beglen == 0) {
            if (!rb_const_defined(mod, id))
                return Qfalse;
            if (p == pend) return Qtrue;
            mod = rb_const_get(mod, id);
        }
        else {
            if (!rb_const_defined_from(mod, id))
                return Qfalse;
            if (p == pend) return Qtrue;
            mod = rb_const_get_from(mod, id);
        }
#endif

        if (p < pend && !RB_TYPE_P(mod, T_MODULE) && !RB_TYPE_P(mod, T_CLASS)) {
            rb_raise(rb_eTypeError, "%"PRIsVALUE" does not refer to class/module",
                     QUOTE(name));
        }
    }

    return Qtrue;

  wrong_name:
    rb_name_err_raise(wrong_constant_name, mod, name);
    UNREACHABLE_RETURN(Qundef);
}

Says whether mod or its ancestors have a constant with the given name:

Example

Float.const_defined?(:EPSILON)      #=> true, found in Float itself
Float.const_defined?("String")      #=> true, found in Object (ancestor)
BasicObject.const_defined?(:Hash)   #=> false

If mod is a Module, additionally Object and its ancestors are checked:

Example

Math.const_defined?(:String)   #=> true, found in Object

In each of the checked classes or modules, if the constant is not present but there is an autoload for it, true is returned directly without autoloading:

Example

module Admin
  autoload :User, 'admin/user'
end
Admin.const_defined?(:User)   #=> true

If the constant is not found the callback const_missing is not called and the method returns false.

If inherit is false, the lookup only checks the constants in the receiver:

Example

IO.const_defined?(:SYNC)          #=> true, found in File::Constants (ancestor)
IO.const_defined?(:SYNC, false)   #=> false, not found in IO itself

In this case, the same logic for autoloading applies.

If the argument is not a valid constant name a NameError is raised with the message “wrong constant name name”:

Example

Hash.const_defined? 'foobar'   #=> NameError: wrong constant name foobar

See also #constants #const_get #class_variable_set #const_missing also in 4.1 · 4.0 · 3.4 · 3.3 · 3.2 · 3.1

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