> > M> k=0; ("A".."k").each{|x|k+=1}; k
> > M> I expected 11, I got 26. Why is that?
> >  why 11 ?
> >  You have 11 with ("A".."K")
> 
> Oops, nearly a brain fart. That's not 11 I wanted to write, it's 37, that
> is, 11+26.  Precisely, like 'A'..'Z' followed by 'a'..'k'. 
> 
> Now that I think of it, I understand why it gives "A".."Z", and why it
> makes sense to. I'm only *really* awake starting with the end of the
> afternoon :-) 

Thanks to Mark for explaining that ? makes it a character.  The
reason it's 43 instead of 37 is because there are 6 characters
between uppercase and lowercase:
k=0; (?A..?k).each{|x| print "#{x.chr} "; k+=1};  
=> ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijk

regards,
-joe