What is File.file?() method in Ruby?

Overview

The file?() method in Ruby is used to check whether a file exists and if is it a regular file. If this condition is met, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.

Syntax

File.file?(file)

Parameter

file: This is the file we want to see if it exists and if it is a regular file.

Return value

This method returns a Boolean value. It returns true if the condition is met, else false.

Code example

main.rb
test.txt
# create file names
fn1 = "main.rb"
fn2 = "test.txt"
fn3 = "nothing"
fn4 = "fake.txt"
fn5 = "empty.txt"
# check if files exists
puts File.exists?(fn1)
puts File.exists?(fn2)
puts File.exists?(fn3)
puts File.exists?(fn4)

Explanation

  • Lines 1–2: We create a file called text.txt along with our source code file main.rb.
  • Lines 2–6: We initialize the names of the files.
  • Lines 9–12: We use the file?() method to check if the names of the files exist. Next, we print the results to the console.

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