method

constantize

v4.2.9 - Show latest stable - Class: ActiveSupport::Inflector

constantize(camel_cased_word)

public

Tries to find a constant with the name specified in the argument string.

'Module'.constantize     # => Module
'Test::Unit'.constantize # => Test::Unit

The name is assumed to be the one of a top-level constant, no matter whether it starts with “::” or not. No lexical context is taken into account:

C = 'outside'
module M
  C = 'inside'
  C               # => 'inside'
  'C'.constantize # => 'outside', same as ::C
end

NameError is raised when the name is not in CamelCase or the constant is unknown.

# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/methods.rb, line 249
    def constantize(camel_cased_word)
      names = camel_cased_word.split('::')

      # Trigger a built-in NameError exception including the ill-formed constant in the message.
      Object.const_get(camel_cased_word) if names.empty?

      # Remove the first blank element in case of '::ClassName' notation.
      names.shift if names.size > 1 && names.first.empty?

      names.inject(Object) do |constant, name|
        if constant == Object
          constant.const_get(name)
        else
          candidate = constant.const_get(name)
          next candidate if constant.const_defined?(name, false)
          next candidate unless Object.const_defined?(name)

          # Go down the ancestors to check if it is owned directly. The check
          # stops when we reach Object or the end of ancestors tree.
          constant = constant.ancestors.inject do |const, ancestor|
            break const    if ancestor == Object
            break ancestor if ancestor.const_defined?(name, false)
            const
          end

          # owner is in Object, so raise
          constant.const_get(name, false)
        end
      end
    end

constantize

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