global_variables()
public
Returns an array of the names of global variables.
global_variables.grep /std/ #=> [:$stdin, :$stdout, :$stderr]
list of predefined variables
$! The exception information message set by ‘raise’. $@ Array of backtrace of the last exception thrown.
$& The string matched by the last successful pattern match in this scope. $` The string to the left of the last successful match. $‘ The string to the right of the last successful match. $+ The last bracket matched by the last successful match. $1 to $9 The Nth group of the last successful regexp match. $~ The information about the last match in the current scope.
$= The flag for case insensitive, nil by default. $/ The input record separator, newline by default. $\ The output record separator for the print and IO#write. Default is nil. $, The output field separator for the print and Array#join. $; The default separator for String#split.
$. The current input line number of the last file that was read. $< The virtual concatenation file of the files given on command line. $> The default output for print, printf. $stdout by default. $_ The last input line of string by gets or readline.
$0 Contains the name of the script being executed. May be assignable. $* Command line arguments given for the script sans args. $$ The process number of the Ruby running this script. $? The status of the last executed child process. $: Load path for scripts and binary modules by load or require.
$“ The array contains the module names loaded by require. $DEBUG The status of the -d switch. $FILENAME Current input file from $<. Same as $<.filename. $LOAD_PATH The alias to the $:. $stderr The current standard error output. $stdin The current standard input. $stdout The current standard output. $VERBOSE The verbose flag, which is set by the -v switch. $-0 The alias to $/. $-a True if option -a (”autosplit“ mode) is set. Read-only variable. $-d The alias to $DEBUG. $-F The alias to $;. $-i If in-place-edit mode is set, this variable holds the extension, otherwise nil. $-I The alias to $:. $-l True if option -l is set (”line-ending processing“ is on). Read-only variable. $-p True if option -p is set (”loop“ mode is on). Read-only variable. $-v The alias to $VERBOSE. $-w True if option -w is set.
Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ruby_Programming/Syntax/Variables_and_Constants#Pre-defined_Variables