class Symbol

Returns an array of all the symbols currently in Ruby’s symbol table.

Symbol.all_symbols.size    #=> 903
Symbol.all_symbols[1,20]   #=> [:floor, :ARGV, :Binding, :symlink,
                                :chown, :EOFError, :$;, :String,
                                :LOCK_SH, :"setuid?", :$<,
                                :default_proc, :compact, :extend,
                                :Tms, :getwd, :$=, :ThreadGroup,
                                :wait2, :$>]

static VALUE
sym_all_symbols(VALUE _)
{
    return rb_sym_all_symbols();
}

Compares symbol with other_symbol after calling to_s on each of the symbols. Returns -1, 0, +1, or nil depending on whether symbol is less than, equal to, or greater than other_symbol.

nil is returned if the two values are incomparable.

See String#<=> for more information.

static VALUE
sym_cmp(VALUE sym, VALUE other)
{
    if (!SYMBOL_P(other)) {
        return Qnil;
    }
    return rb_str_cmp_m(rb_sym2str(sym), rb_sym2str(other));
}

Equality—If sym and obj are exactly the same symbol, returns true.

#define sym_equal rb_obj_equal

Returns sym.to_s =~ obj.

static VALUE
sym_match(VALUE sym, VALUE other)
{
    return rb_str_match(rb_sym2str(sym), other);
}

Returns sym.to_s[].

static VALUE
sym_aref(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_aref_m(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

Equivalent to sym.to_s.capitalize.to_sym.

See String#capitalize.

static VALUE
sym_capitalize(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_capitalize(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

Case-insensitive version of Symbol#<=>:

:aBcDeF.casecmp(:abcde)   # => 1
:aBcDeF.casecmp(:abcdef)  # => 0
:aBcDeF.casecmp(:abcdefg) # => -1
:abcdef.casecmp(:ABCDEF)  # => 0

Returns nil if the two symbols have incompatible encodings, or if other_symbol is not a symbol:

sym = "\u{e4 f6 fc}".encode("ISO-8859-1").to_sym
other_sym = :"\u{c4 d6 dc}"
sym.casecmp(other_sym) # => nil
:foo.casecmp(2)        # => nil

Currently, case-insensitivity only works on characters A-Z/a-z, not all of Unicode. This is different from Symbol#casecmp?.

Related: Symbol#casecmp?.

static VALUE
sym_casecmp(VALUE sym, VALUE other)
{
    if (!SYMBOL_P(other)) {
        return Qnil;
    }
    return str_casecmp(rb_sym2str(sym), rb_sym2str(other));
}

Returns true if sym and other_symbol are equal after Unicode case folding, false if they are not equal:

:aBcDeF.casecmp?(:abcde)                  # => false
:aBcDeF.casecmp?(:abcdef)                 # => true
:aBcDeF.casecmp?(:abcdefg)                # => false
:abcdef.casecmp?(:ABCDEF)                 # => true
:"\u{e4 f6 fc}".casecmp?(:"\u{c4 d6 dc}") #=> true

Returns nil if the two symbols have incompatible encodings, or if other_symbol is not a symbol:

sym = "\u{e4 f6 fc}".encode("ISO-8859-1").to_sym
other_sym = :"\u{c4 d6 dc}"
sym.casecmp?(other_sym) # => nil
:foo.casecmp?(2)        # => nil

See Case Mapping.

Related: Symbol#casecmp.

static VALUE
sym_casecmp_p(VALUE sym, VALUE other)
{
    if (!SYMBOL_P(other)) {
        return Qnil;
    }
    return str_casecmp_p(rb_sym2str(sym), rb_sym2str(other));
}

Equivalent to sym.to_s.downcase.to_sym.

See String#downcase.

Related: Symbol#upcase.

static VALUE
sym_downcase(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_downcase(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

Returns whether sym is :“” or not.

static VALUE
sym_empty(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_empty(rb_sym2str(sym));
}

Returns the Encoding object that represents the encoding of sym.

static VALUE
sym_encoding(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_obj_encoding(rb_sym2str(sym));
}

Returns true if sym ends with one of the suffixes given.

:hello.end_with?("ello")               #=> true

# returns true if one of the +suffixes+ matches.
:hello.end_with?("heaven", "ello")     #=> true
:hello.end_with?("heaven", "paradise") #=> false

static VALUE
sym_end_with(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_end_with(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

Returns the representation of sym as a symbol literal.

:fred.inspect   #=> ":fred"

static VALUE
sym_inspect(VALUE sym)
{
    VALUE str = rb_sym2str(sym);
    const char *ptr;
    long len;
    char *dest;

    if (!rb_str_symname_p(str)) {
        str = rb_str_inspect(str);
        len = RSTRING_LEN(str);
        rb_str_resize(str, len + 1);
        dest = RSTRING_PTR(str);
        memmove(dest + 1, dest, len);
    }
    else {
        rb_encoding *enc = STR_ENC_GET(str);
        RSTRING_GETMEM(str, ptr, len);
        str = rb_enc_str_new(0, len + 1, enc);
        dest = RSTRING_PTR(str);
        memcpy(dest + 1, ptr, len);
    }
    dest[0] = ':';
    return str;
}

In general, to_sym returns the Symbol corresponding to an object. As sym is already a symbol, self is returned in this case.

static VALUE
sym_to_sym(VALUE sym)
{
    return sym;
}

Same as sym.to_s.length.

static VALUE
sym_length(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_length(rb_sym2str(sym));
}

Returns sym.to_s.match.

static VALUE
sym_match_m(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_match_m(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

Returns sym.to_s.match?.

static VALUE
sym_match_m_p(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_match_m_p(argc, argv, sym);
}

Returns the name or string corresponding to sym. Unlike to_s, the returned string is frozen.

:fred.name         #=> "fred"
:fred.name.frozen? #=> true
:fred.to_s         #=> "fred"
:fred.to_s.frozen? #=> false

VALUE
rb_sym2str(VALUE sym)
{

}

Returns true if sym starts with one of the prefixes given. Each of the prefixes should be a String or a Regexp.

:hello.start_with?("hell")               #=> true
:hello.start_with?(/H/i)                 #=> true

# returns true if one of the prefixes matches.
:hello.start_with?("heaven", "hell")     #=> true
:hello.start_with?("heaven", "paradise") #=> false

static VALUE
sym_start_with(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_start_with(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

Same as sym.to_s.succ.intern.

static VALUE
sym_succ(VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_succ(rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

Equivalent to sym.to_s.swapcase.to_sym.

See String#swapcase.

static VALUE
sym_swapcase(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_swapcase(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym)));
}

Returns a Proc object which responds to the given method by sym.

(1..3).collect(&:to_s)  #=> ["1", "2", "3"]

VALUE
rb_sym_to_proc(VALUE sym)
{
}

Returns the name or string corresponding to sym.

:fred.id2name   #=> "fred"
:ginger.to_s    #=> "ginger"

Note that this string is not frozen (unlike the symbol itself). To get a frozen string, use name.

VALUE
rb_sym_to_s(VALUE sym)
{
    return str_new_shared(rb_cString, rb_sym2str(sym));
}

Equivalent to sym.to_s.upcase.to_sym.

See String#upcase.

static VALUE
sym_upcase(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE sym)
{
    return rb_str_intern(rb_str_upcase(argc, argv, rb_sym2str(sym)));
}