Prasanna Natarajan
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Ruby musings: Converting a block to a proc/lambda

A block is not an object (rare exception in ruby). A proc/lambda is an object.

A block can only be called using yield.

A proc can be called using blk.call.

& is used to convert a block to a proc and viceversa.

Block to proc:

# '&' in method definition converts the passed block to proc obj
def block_to_proc(name, &blk)
  blk.call name
end

res = block_to_proc('pras') do |name|
  "block to proc! hello #{name}"
end
p res

and proc to block:

def proc_to_block(name)
  yield(name)
end

my_proc = ->(name) do
  "proc to block! hello #{name}"
end
# '&' in method call converts the proc obj to a block, which is accessed
# within the method using 'yield'
res = proc_to_block 'pras', &my_proc
p res

Pass around blocks or procs from method calls to method definitions without the & woodoo

Block used as block:

# the passed block is directly accessible via yield
def block_to_block(name)
  yield name
end

res = block_to_block('pras') do |name|
  "block to block! hello #{name}"
end
p res

Proc used as proc:

# the passed proc obj can be accessed in a var just like other objs
def proc_to_proc(name, blk)
  blk.call name
end

my_proc = ->(name) do
  "proc to proc! hello #{name}"
end
res = proc_to_proc 'pras', my_proc
p res