Comparable

The Comparable mixin is used by classes whose objects may be ordered. The class must define the <=> operator, which compares the receiver against another object, returning a value less than 0, returning 0, or returning a value greater than 0, depending on whether the receiver is less than, equal to, or greater than the other object. If the other object is not comparable then the <=> operator should return nil. Comparable uses <=> to implement the conventional comparison operators (<, <=, ==, >=, and >) and the method between?.

class StringSorter
  include Comparable

  attr :str
  def <=>(other)
    str.size <=> other.str.size
  end

  def initialize(str)
    @str = str
  end

  def inspect
    @str
  end
end

s1 = StringSorter.new("Z")
s2 = StringSorter.new("YY")
s3 = StringSorter.new("XXX")
s4 = StringSorter.new("WWWW")
s5 = StringSorter.new("VVVVV")

s1 < s2                       #=> true
s4.between?(s1, s3)           #=> false
s4.between?(s3, s5)           #=> true
[ s3, s2, s5, s4, s1 ].sort   #=> [Z, YY, XXX, WWWW, VVVVV]

What’s Here

Module Comparable provides these methods, all of which use method <=>:

• <: Returns whether self is less than the given object.

• <=: Returns whether self is less than or equal to the given object.

• ==: Returns whether self is equal to the given object.

• >: Returns whether self is greater than the given object.

• >=: Returns whether self is greater than or equal to the given object.

• between?: Returns true if self is between two given objects.

• clamp: For given objects min and max, or range (min..max), returns:

  • min if (self <=> min) < 0.

  • max if (self <=> max) > 0.

  • self otherwise.