exactly what I need, thanks very much.

Oliver

On Nov 20, 2:01 pm, Phrogz <phr... / mac.com> wrote:
> On Nov 20, 11:48 am, Oliver <fwa... / gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > hi, folks -
>
> > how do I save the output from pp to a string for later use?
>
> irb(main):001:0> require 'pp'
> => true
>
> irb(main):002:0> h = {('a'*60)=>['b'*60,'c'*60],
> ('d'*60)=>['e'*60,'f'*60]}
> =>
> {"dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd"=>["eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee",
> "ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff"],
> "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"=>["bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb",
> "cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc"]}
>
> irb(main):003:0> pp h
> {"dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd"=>
>   ["eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee",
>    "ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff"],
>  "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"=>
>   ["bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb",
>    "cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc"]}
> => nil
>
> irb(main):004:0> str = h.pretty_inspect
> => "{\"dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd\"=>
> \n  [\"eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
> eeeeee\",\n
> \"ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff\"],\n
> \"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
> aaaaaaaaaaaaa\"=>\n
> [\"bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb\",\n
> \"cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
> cccccccccccccccccccccc\"]}\n"
>
> irb(main):005:0> puts str
> {"dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd"=>
>   ["eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee",
>    "ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff"],
>  "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"=>
>   ["bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb",
>    "cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc"]}
> => nil