>Where am I going wrong?
>
>st='x'
>#st=gets
>if st=='x'
>  puts 'it's x'
>else
>  puts 'not x'
>end
>
>as written it prints "it's x" as expected but if I take away the # and
>execute the st=gets line it's never x.
>

As the other poster said, you could try strip or 
chop (or chomp), or you could use strip! or 
chomp!. Or you could say: if st=="x\n"

Or you could use a regular expression in your 
test:

if st =~ /x/     # contains x
if st =~ /^x/    # starts with x
if st =~ /^x$/   # just x but handles newline ok

Kevin