Best ruby idiom for “nil or zero”

Question

I am looking for a concise way to check a value to see if it is nil or zero. Currently I am doing something like:

if (!val || val == 0)
  # Is nil or zero
e         


        

Answer 1

Objects have a nil? method.

if val.nil? || val == 0
  [do something]
end

Or, for just one instruction:

[do something] if val.nil? || val == 0

Answer 2

You can use the Object.nil? to test for nil specifically (and not get caught up between false and nil). You can monkey-patch a method into Object as well.

class Object
   def nil_or_zero?
     return (self.nil? or self == 0)
   end
end

my_object = MyClass.new
my_object.nil_or_zero?
==> false

This is not recommended as changes to Object are difficult for coworkers to trace, and may make your code unpredictable to others.

Answer 3

unless (val || 0).zero?

    # do stufff

end