The Shellwords module in Ruby manipulates strings according to the parsing rules of the UNIX Bourne shell. It includes methods to split strings into arrays of words, escape strings for use in shell commands, and join arrays of words into strings. The module conforms to POSIX standards for shell word parsing and provides aliases for common shell utilities like split, escape, and join. Strings and arrays can use shorthand methods like shellsplit, shellescape, and shelljoin to interact with the module.

1. SHELLWORDS
Ruby Method/Module of the Month
Kevin Munc - @muncman

2. WHAT IS IT?
“This module manipulates strings according to the word
parsing rules of the UNIX Bourne shell.”
(http://www.ruby-doc.org/ruby-1.9/classes/Shellwords.html)
Conforms to POSIX / SUSv3 (IEEE Std 1003.1-2001)
Built on String#scan
require ‘shellwords’

3. SHELLWORDS
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"

4. SHELLWORDS
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"
Shellwords.shellwords(my_string)

5. SHELLWORDS
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"
Shellwords.shellwords(my_string)
==> ["one-two", "three_four", "fiveSix", "seven", "eight", "nine
ten"]

6. SHELLSPLIT
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"

7. SHELLSPLIT
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"
Shellwords.shellsplit(my_string)

8. SHELLSPLIT
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"
Shellwords.shellsplit(my_string)
==> ["one-two", "three_four", "fiveSix", "seven", "eight", "nine
ten"] # same as shellwords

9. SHELLSPLIT
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"
Shellwords.shellsplit(my_string)
==> ["one-two", "three_four", "fiveSix", "seven", "eight", "nine
ten"] # same as shellwords
Shellwords.split(my_string) # alias

10. SHELLESCAPE
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"

11. SHELLESCAPE
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"
Shellwords.shellescape(my_string)

12. SHELLESCAPE
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"
Shellwords.shellescape(my_string)
==> "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight
'nine ten'"

13. SHELLESCAPE
my_string = "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight 'nine
ten'"
Shellwords.shellescape(my_string)
==> "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight
'nine ten'"
Shellwords.escape(my_string) # alias

14. SHELLJOIN
my_array = Shellwords.shellwords(my_string)

15. SHELLJOIN
my_array = Shellwords.shellwords(my_string)
==> ["one-two", "three_four", "fiveSix", "seven", "eight", "nine
ten"]

16. SHELLJOIN
my_array = Shellwords.shellwords(my_string)
==> ["one-two", "three_four", "fiveSix", "seven", "eight", "nine
ten"]
Shellwords.shelljoin(my_array)

17. SHELLJOIN
my_array = Shellwords.shellwords(my_string)
==> ["one-two", "three_four", "fiveSix", "seven", "eight", "nine
ten"]
Shellwords.shelljoin(my_array)
==> "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight nine ten"

18. SHELLJOIN
my_array = Shellwords.shellwords(my_string)
==> ["one-two", "three_four", "fiveSix", "seven", "eight", "nine
ten"]
Shellwords.shelljoin(my_array)
==> "one-two three_four fiveSix seven eight nine ten"
Shellwords.join(my_array) # alias

19. STRING & ARRAY
SHORTHAND

20. STRING & ARRAY
SHORTHAND
my_string.shellsplit

21. STRING & ARRAY
SHORTHAND
my_string.shellsplit
my_string.shellescape

22. STRING & ARRAY
SHORTHAND
my_string.shellsplit
my_string.shellescape
my_array.shelljoin

23. STRING & ARRAY
SHORTHAND
my_string.shellsplit
my_string.shellescape
my_array.shelljoin
my_string.shellwords # nope

24. STRING & ARRAY
SHORTHAND
my_string.shellsplit
my_string.shellescape
my_array.shelljoin
my_string.shellwords # nope
# no shorthand method names, either

25. QUESTIONS? Photo Credits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbygott/5241519842/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34878947@N04/4450370442/