Christopher Aldridge wrote:
> to determine how to handle the path, I use something as such:
> 
> require 'rbconfig'
> include Config
> 
> home = "c:/documents and settings/username" if CONFIG['host'].match("mswin")
> home = "/home/username" if CONFIG['host'].match("solaris")  ##for
> solaris nix box
> 
> system("echo hello > #{home}/.txt")
> 
> The forward slashes usually work for windows in most cases but....
> hope this helps..

I'm going OT here, but...

First, you don't need rbconfig.  Just check against PLATFORM, e.g. if 
PLATFORM.match("mswin").

Second, I would use ENV["HOME"] || ENV["USERPROFILE"] over a hard coded home 
directory on Windows.

Third, on Unix platforms, you can generally rely on ENV["HOME"].  If not, you 
can always use the etc or sys-admin package, e.g.

Admin.get_user(Admin.get_login).dir

Actually, you can do the same thing on Windows, though it usually isn't set 
locally (and you probably don't want the global home directory), e.g.

Admin.get_user(Admin.get_login).home_dir

Regards,

Dan