method

clone

v2_1_10 - Show latest stable - Class: Object

clone()

public

Produces a shallow copy of obj—the instance variables of obj are copied, but not the objects they reference. clone copies the frozen and tainted state of obj. See also the discussion under Object#dup.

class Klass
   attr_accessor :str
end
s1 = Klass.new      #=> #<Klass:0x401b3a38>
s1.str = "Hello"    #=> "Hello"
s2 = s1.clone       #=> #<Klass:0x401b3998 @str="Hello">
s2.str[1,4] = "i"   #=> "i"
s1.inspect          #=> "#<Klass:0x401b3a38 @str=\"Hi\">"
s2.inspect          #=> "#<Klass:0x401b3998 @str=\"Hi\">"

This method may have class-specific behavior. If so, that behavior will be documented under the #initialize_copy method of the class.

VALUE
rb_obj_clone(VALUE obj)
{
    VALUE clone;
    VALUE singleton;

    if (rb_special_const_p(obj)) {
        rb_raise(rb_eTypeError, "can't clone %s", rb_obj_classname(obj));
    }
    clone = rb_obj_alloc(rb_obj_class(obj));
    RBASIC(clone)->flags &= (FL_TAINT|FL_PROMOTED|FL_WB_PROTECTED);
    RBASIC(clone)->flags |= RBASIC(obj)->flags & ~(FL_PROMOTED|FL_FREEZE|FL_FINALIZE|FL_WB_PROTECTED);

    singleton = rb_singleton_class_clone_and_attach(obj, clone);
    RBASIC_SET_CLASS(clone, singleton);
    if (FL_TEST(singleton, FL_SINGLETON)) {
        rb_singleton_class_attached(singleton, clone);
    }

    init_copy(clone, obj);
    rb_funcall(clone, id_init_clone, 1, obj);
    RBASIC(clone)->flags |= RBASIC(obj)->flags & FL_FREEZE;

    return clone;
}

1Note

Change in clone for ActiveRecord objects in ruby-1.9.3

weexpectedTHIS · Nov 16, 20111 thank

I noticed that cloning an active record object in ruby-1.9.3 and then changing an attribute on the original object will actually change the cloned object as well. This was not the case in ruby-1.9.2.

clone

1Note

Change in clone for ActiveRecord objects in ruby-1.9.3

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