Ruby 2.6 adds Dir#each_child & Dir#children instance

Ruby 2.5 had introduced class level methods Dir::each_child and Dir::children. We wrote a detailed blog about it.

In Ruby 2.6, same methods are added as instance methods on Dir class. Dir#children (Link is not available) returns array of all the filenames except . and .. in the directory. Dir#each_child (Link is not available) yields all the filenames and operates on it.

Let's have a look at examples to understand it better.

Dir#children

1directory = Dir.new('/Users/tejaswinichile/workspace')
2
3directory.children
4=> ["panda.png", "apple.png", "banana.png", "camera.jpg"]
5
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Dir#each_child iterates and calls block for each file entry in the given directory. It uses filename as a parameter to the block.

Dir#each_child

1directory = Dir.new('/Users/tejaswinichile/workspace')
2
3directory.each_child { |filename| puts "Currently reading: #{filename}"}
4
5Currently reading: panda.png
6Currently reading: apple.png
7Currently reading: banana.png
8Currently reading: camera.jpg
9=> #<Dir:/Users/tejaswinichile/Desktop>
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If we don't pass any block to each_child, it returns enumerator instead.

1directory = Dir.new('/Users/tejaswinichile/workspace')
2
3directory.each_child
4
5=> #<Enumerator: #<Dir:/Users/tejaswinichile/Desktop>:each_child>
6
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Here is relevant commit and discussion for this change.