Ruby Basics: 5 Beginner Questions Answered Simply

When I first started learning Ruby during my full-stack developer Bootcamp (2022), I found myself Googling the same beginner questions over and over. If you’re just starting out, here are five common Ruby questions I had, answered clearly and simply.

👉 Curious why I enrolled in a coding Bootcamp in the first place? Read my Bootcamp story here.

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1. What does break do in a Ruby loop?

The break command tells Ruby to stop a loop immediately and jump to the first line of code after the loop ends.

🔍 Example:

i = 0
while i < 10
  puts i
  break if i == 5
  i += 1
end
puts "Loop is done!"

This loop prints numbers from 0 to 5, then exits and executes the next line puts "Loop is done!". Even though the condition i < 10 is still true, break stops the loop in its tracks.

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2. What does == mean in Ruby?

The double equal sign is a comparison operator. It checks if two values are equal. This means Ruby compares their values and returns true if they match, or false if they do not match.

🔍 Example:

answer = gets.chomp
if answer == "yes"
  puts "Great!"
end

• This code examples compares the value of answer to the string "yes".
• gets.chomp waits for the user to type something and hit Enter. Whatever they type is saved as a string in the variable answer.
• The if line says:
  “If the value stored in answer is exactly equal to the string "yes", then run the code inside the if block.”
• So, if the user types yes, it prints Great!.
• If the user types anything else, nothing happens (the puts "Great!" line is skipped).
• Don’t forget, the comparison is case-sensitive, so "yes" is not equal to "Yes" or "YES".

🔗 Want to go deeper into how Ruby operators work? Check out my post What are Ruby Operators for more syntax examples and tips.

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3. What is the difference between = and == in Ruby conditionals?

Incorrectly using = and == is one of the most common mistakes made by beginner Ruby developers.

• = is for assignment — it sets a variable: color = "blue"
• == is for comparison — it checks if values are equal: if color == "blue"

❌ Common Mistake:

if answer = "yes"

This actually assigns "yes" to answer instead of comparing it. Ruby still runs this, but shows a warning:

warning: found = in conditional, should be ==

✅ Correct:

if answer == "yes"

Always use == in if or elsif statements.

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4. What does a lowercase p mean in Ruby?

In Ruby, lowercase p is shorthand for printing with inspection and is a method that:

• Prints the value of the object you give it.
• Displays the “inspect” representation of the object, which means it shows it as Ruby internally represents it, including quotes around strings, array brackets, hashes, etc.
• Automatically adds a newline after printing.

It’s mostly used for debugging because it shows more detail than puts or print.

🔍 Example:

name = "Kelly"
p name      # => "Kelly"
puts name   # => Kelly

• p shows the string with quotes
• puts shows the string without quotes

✅ Use p when:

• You want to inspect what a variable really holds
• You’re debugging and need quick visibility into values

Bonus:

print "Hi"   # prints without a newline
puts "Hi"    # prints with a newline
p "Hi"       # prints "Hi" with quotes

Newline means moving to the next line after printing — basically, adding a line break so whatever prints next appears on a new line instead of continuing right after the current output.

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5. What are the rules for Ruby variable names?

Ruby has some important rules about naming variables:

✅ Allowed:

• Letters and numbers (but can’t start with a number)
• Underscores (_) at the beginning, middle, or end

❌ Not Allowed:

• Hyphens (-)
• Spaces
• Periods (.)

🔍 Examples:

cat = 3             # ✅
tabby_cat = 5       # ✅
_cat = 7            # ✅
2cats = 10          # ❌ invalid
cat-name = 4        # ❌ invalid

🔠 Case matters in Ruby!

Ruby is case-sensitive. That means:

A = 3    # Constant
a = 6    # Variable

These are two different identifiers. Capitalized variable names are treated as constants.

➕ How assignment works:

In Ruby, assignment goes right to left. The value on the right is evaluated and stored in the variable on the left.

sum = 2 + 3   # sum is now 5

Trying to do it backward will throw a syntax error:

5 = sum   # ❌ Not valid

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✅ Quick Recap

• Variables follow strict naming rules
• break exits loops early
• == checks for equality
• Use == in conditionals, not =
• p is a debug-friendly print

💡 This post is part of a growing series of notes I wrote during my Bootcamp. You can read more about why I joined a coding Bootcamp, or explore more Ruby logic in Ruby Basics.