WebRI - Quick Access to Ruby Online Documentation

WebRI has a command-line utility, webri, for displaying Ruby online documentation.

It is in some ways similar to Ruby's RI utility, but differs mainly in that:

RI: displays text-only documentation the the user's command window.
WebRI: opens documentation web pages from Ruby official on-line documentation in the user's default web browser.

WebRI displays documentation for:

A class or module: opens its web page.
A method: opens the web page for its class/module scrolled to the method's documentation.
A Ruby page: opens a free-standing web page.

Usage

webri [options]

webri is an interactive program; when invoked, it prints its prompt:

$ webri
webri>

To exit, type exit:

$ webri
webri> exit
$

At the prompt, you can type:

The name of a class or module.
The name of a singleton method.
The name of an instance method.
The name of a Ruby page.
An abbreviation of any of the above.
One of the special names @help or @readme.

Class or Module

For a name beginning with a capital letter, WebRI finds the names of classes and modules beginning with that name.

When exactly one such class/module name is found:

If name is the exact name of a class/module, opens its page:

webri> Array
Found one class/module name starting with 'Array'
  Array (Array.html)
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Array.html.

If name is the start of one class/module, offers to open its page:

webri> Arr
Found one class/module name starting with 'Arr'
  Array (Array.html)
Open page Array.html? (y or n):  y
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Array.html.

When multiple such class/module names are found, offers to list the found names:

webri> Ar
Found 2 class/module names starting with 'Ar'.
Show 2 class/module names?' (y or n):  y
       0:  ArgumentError (ArgumentError.html)
       1:  Array (Array.html)
Type a number to choose, or Return to skip:  0
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/ArgumentError.html.

When no such class/module name is found, offers to list all class/module names:

webri> Nosuch
Found no class/module name starting with 'Nosuch'.
Show 1364 class/module names? (y or n):  n

Singleton Method

For a name beginning with ::, WebRI finds the names of singleton methods beginning with that name.

When exactly one such singleton method name is found:

If name is the exact name of one singleton method, opens its class/module page at that method:

webri> ::zcat
Found one singleton method name starting with '::zcat'
  ::zcat
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Zlib/GzipReader.html at method ::zcat.

If name is the start of the found name, offers to open its page:

webri> ::zca
Found one singleton method name starting with '::zca'
  ::zcat
Open page Zlib/GzipReader.html at method ::zcat? (y or n):  y
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Zlib/GzipReader.html at method ::zcat.

When multiple such singleton method names are found offer to list the found names:

webri> ::z
Found 5 singleton method names starting with '::z'.
Show 5 names?' (y or n):  y
       0:  ::zcat (in Zlib::GzipReader)
       1:  ::zero? (in File)
       2:  ::zip? (in RDoc::Parser)
       3:  ::zlib_version (in Zlib)
       4:  ::zone_offset (in Time)
Type a number to choose, or Return to skip:  3
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Zlib.html at method ::zlib_version.

When no such singleton method name is found, offers to list all singleton method names:

webri> ::nosuch
Found no singleton method name starting with '::nosuch'.
Show names of all 2288 singleton methods? (y or n):  n

Instance Method

For a name beginning with #, WebRI finds the names of instance methods beginning with that name.

When exactly one such instance method name is found:

If name is the exact name of one instance method, opens its class/module page at that method:

webri> #yield_self
Found one instance method name starting with '#yield_self'
  #yield_self
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Kernel.html at method #yield_self.

If name is the start of the found name, offers to open its page:

webri> #yield_s
Found one instance method name starting with '#yield_s'
  #yield_self
Open page Kernel.html at method #yield_self? (y or n):  y
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Kernel.html at method #yield_self.

When multiple such instance method names are found offer to list the found names:

webri> #yield
Found 4 instance method names starting with '#yield'.
Show 4 names?' (y or n):  y
       0:  #yield (in Proc)
       1:  #yield_node (in Prism::DSL)
       2:  #yield_self (in Kernel)
       3:  #yields_directive (in RDoc::MarkupReference)
Type a number to choose, or Return to skip:  0
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Proc.html at method #yield.

When no such instance method name is found, offers to list all instance method names:

webri>
webri> #nosuch
Found no instance method name starting with '#nosuch'.
Show names of all 10370 instance methods? (y or n):  n

Ruby Page

For a name beginning with ruby:, finds the names of ruby pages beginning with that name.

When exactly one such page name is found:

If the name is the exact name of the found name, opens its page:

webri> ruby:operators
Found one page name starting with 'operators'
  operators (syntax/operators_rdoc.html)

If name is the start of the found name, offers to open its page:

webri> ruby:opera
Found one page name starting with 'opera'
  operators (syntax/operators_rdoc.html)
Open page syntax/operators_rdoc.html? (y or n):  y
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/syntax/operators_rdoc.html.

When multiple such page names are found offer to list the found names:

webri> ruby:o
Found 4 page names starting with 'o'.
Show 4 names?' (y or n):  y
       0:  operators (syntax/operators_rdoc.html)
       1:  option_dump (ruby/option_dump_md.html)
       2:  option_params (optparse/option_params_rdoc.html)
       3:  options (ruby/options_md.html)
Type a number to choose, or Return to skip:  2

When no such page name is found, offers to list all page names:

webri> ruby:nosuch
Found no page name starting with 'nosuch'.
Show names of all 83 pages? (y or n):  y
       0:  COPYING (COPYING.html)
       1:  COPYING.ja (COPYING_ja.html)
       2:  LEGAL (LEGAL.html)
       3:  NEWS (NEWS_md.html)
       4:  NEWS-1.8.7 (NEWS/NEWS-1_8_7.html)
       5:  NEWS-1.9.1 (NEWS/NEWS-1_9_1.html)
       6:  NEWS-1.9.2 (NEWS/NEWS-1_9_2.html)
       7:  NEWS-1.9.3 (NEWS/NEWS-1_9_3.html)
       8:  NEWS-2.0.0 (NEWS/NEWS-2_0_0.html)
       9:  NEWS-2.1.0 (NEWS/NEWS-2_1_0.html)
      10:  NEWS-2.2.0 (NEWS/NEWS-2_2_0.html)
      11:  NEWS-2.3.0 (NEWS/NEWS-2_3_0.html)
      12:  NEWS-2.4.0 (NEWS/NEWS-2_4_0.html)
      13:  NEWS-2.5.0 (NEWS/NEWS-2_5_0.html)
      14:  NEWS-2.6.0 (NEWS/NEWS-2_6_0.html)
      15:  NEWS-2.7.0 (NEWS/NEWS-2_7_0.html)
      16:  NEWS-3.0.0 (NEWS/NEWS-3_0_0_md.html)
      17:  NEWS-3.1.0 (NEWS/NEWS-3_1_0_md.html)
      18:  NEWS-3.2.0 (NEWS/NEWS-3_2_0_md.html)
      19:  NEWS-3.3.0 (NEWS/NEWS-3_3_0_md.html)
      20:  README (README_md.html)
      21:  README.ja (README_ja_md.html)
      22:  argument_converters (optparse/argument_converters_rdoc.html)
      23:  assignment (syntax/assignment_rdoc.html)
      24:  bsearch (bsearch_rdoc.html)
      25:  bug_triaging (bug_triaging_rdoc.html)
      26:  building_ruby (contributing/building_ruby_md.html)
      27:  calendars (date/calendars_rdoc.html)
      28:  calling_methods (syntax/calling_methods_rdoc.html)
      29:  case_mapping (case_mapping_rdoc.html)
      30:  character_selectors (character_selectors_rdoc.html)
      31:  command_injection (command_injection_rdoc.html)
      32:  comments (syntax/comments_rdoc.html)
      33:  contributing (contributing_md.html)
      34:  control_expressions (syntax/control_expressions_rdoc.html)
      35:  creates_option (optparse/creates_option_rdoc.html)
      36:  dig_methods (dig_methods_rdoc.html)
      37:  distribution (distribution_md.html)
      38:  documentation_guide (contributing/documentation_guide_md.html)
      39:  dtrace_probes (dtrace_probes_rdoc.html)
      40:  encodings (encodings_rdoc.html)
      41:  exceptions (exceptions_md.html)
      42:  exceptions (syntax/exceptions_rdoc.html)
      43:  extension (extension_rdoc.html)
      44:  extension.ja (extension_ja_rdoc.html)
      45:  fiber (fiber_md.html)
      46:  format_specifications (format_specifications_rdoc.html)
      47:  globals (globals_rdoc.html)
      48:  glossary (contributing/glossary_md.html)
      49:  implicit_conversion (implicit_conversion_rdoc.html)
      50:  index (index_md.html)
      51:  keywords (syntax/keywords_rdoc.html)
      52:  literals (syntax/literals_rdoc.html)
      53:  maintainers (maintainers_md.html)
      54:  making_changes_to_ruby (contributing/making_changes_to_ruby_md.html)
      55:  making_changes_to_stdlibs (contributing/making_changes_to_stdlibs_md.html)
      56:  marshal (marshal_rdoc.html)
      57:  memory_view (memory_view_md.html)
      58:  methods (regexp/methods_rdoc.html)
      59:  methods (syntax/methods_rdoc.html)
      60:  miscellaneous (syntax/miscellaneous_rdoc.html)
      61:  modules_and_classes (syntax/modules_and_classes_rdoc.html)
      62:  operators (syntax/operators_rdoc.html)
      63:  option_dump (ruby/option_dump_md.html)
      64:  option_params (optparse/option_params_rdoc.html)
      65:  options (ruby/options_md.html)
      66:  packed_data (packed_data_rdoc.html)
      67:  pattern_matching (syntax/pattern_matching_rdoc.html)
      68:  precedence (syntax/precedence_rdoc.html)
      69:  ractor (ractor_md.html)
      70:  refinements (syntax/refinements_rdoc.html)
      71:  reporting_issues (contributing/reporting_issues_md.html)
      72:  rjit (rjit/rjit_md.html)
      73:  security (security_rdoc.html)
      74:  signals (signals_rdoc.html)
      75:  standard_library (standard_library_md.html)
      76:  strftime_formatting (strftime_formatting_rdoc.html)
      77:  syntax (syntax_rdoc.html)
      78:  testing_ruby (contributing/testing_ruby_md.html)
      79:  tutorial (optparse/tutorial_rdoc.html)
      80:  unicode_properties (regexp/unicode_properties_rdoc.html)
      81:  windows (windows_md.html)
      82:  yjit (yjit/yjit_md.html)
Type a number to choose, or Return to skip:  80
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/regexp/unicode_properties_rdoc.html.

Special Names

To display the WebRI help text, use the special name @help:

$ ruby bin/webri
webri> @help
Showing help.
webri is a console application for displaying Ruby online HTML documentation.
Documentation pages are opened in the default web browser.

Usage: webri [options]

For more information, see https://github.com/BurdetteLamar/webri/blob/main/README.md.

Options:
    -i, --info                       Prints information about webri.
    -r, --release=RELEASE            Sets the Ruby release to document.
        --noreline                   Does not use Reline (helps testing).
    -n, --noop                       Does not actually open web pages.
    -h, --help                       Prints this help.
    -v, --version                    Prints the version of webri.

To open the WebRI README page, use the special name @readme:

webri> @readme
Opening web page https://github.com/BurdetteLamar/webri/blob/main/README.md.

Reline

webri uses Reline (on Linux, but not on other OS platforms).

Reline enables editing of text at the webri prompt (use left- and right-arrows), and gives access to history (use up-arrow).

Options

Option --info prints information about WebRI, including the documentation release to be used (3.4 in this example), then exits:

$ webri --info
Ruby documentation release:  '3.4'
Ruby documentation URL:      'https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/table_of_contents.html'
Executable to open page:     'start'
Names:
   1364 class names
   1175 singleton_method names
   4407 instance_method names
     81 page names

Option --release sets the release of the documentation to be used. The collections of names will vary among releases:

$ webri --release=3.2 --info
Ruby documentation release:  '3.2'
Ruby documentation URL:      'https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.2/table_of_contents.html'
Executable to open page:     'start'
Names:
   1262 class names
   1301 singleton_method names
   4397 instance_method names
     73 page names
$ webri --release=3.3 --info
Ruby documentation release:  '3.3'
Ruby documentation URL:      'https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.3/table_of_contents.html'
Executable to open page:     'start'
Names:
   1469 class names
   1270 singleton_method names
   4638 instance_method names
     77 page names

Issues a message if the given release is unknown:

$ webri --release foo
Unknown documentation release:  foo
Master release:                 master
Supported releases:             3.4, 3.3, 3.2
Unsupported releases:           3.1, 3.0

Option --noop suppresses the actual opening of a web page, instead reporting the relevant command:

$ webri --noop Array
Found one class/module name starting with 'Array'
  Array (Array.html)
Opening web page https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Array.html.
Command: 'start https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.4/Array.html'

Option --noreline blocks Reline behavior; see Reline.

Option --help prints the WebRI help text.

Option --version prints the WebRI version.

Installation

To install the gem:

$ gem install webri

Bugs and Issues

Bug reports and comments are welcome at https://github.com/BurdetteLamar/webri/issues.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.

Code of Conduct

Everyone interacting in the Webri project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.