How to embed Ruby in JavaScript (Rails + .html.erb file)

Question

I have a .html.erb file, with some javascript in it. I would like to do something like this:

var stuff = \'
<%= @ruby_var.title %>
\'
         


        

Answer 1

To safely do this you need to use to_json:

<%= javascript_tag do %>
  var stuff = <%= @ruby_var.title.to_json %>;
<% end %>

This will ensure your code does not break if @ruby_var.title has a quote in it.

To include the divs I would do:

<%= javascript_tag do %>
  var stuff = <%= "
#{@ruby_var.title}
".to_json %>;
<% end %>

Note that there are no quotes around <%= %>, to_json takes care of that for you.