# Convert string to instance variable

**URL:** <https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/convert-string-to-instance-variable/5738>\
**Category:** rubyonrails-talk\
**Created:** [December 12, 2006, 8:33am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/convert-string-to-instance-variable/5738 "2006-12-12T08:33:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thushan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Thushan](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Thushan)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 8:33am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/convert-string-to-instance-variable/5738/1 "2006-12-12T08:33:04Z")

</div>

Is there anyway to convert a string to an instance varible?

eg. Suppose I have @name defined. Is there any method that would return @name given the string "name" ?

Also, is there a similar method for local variables?

Thanks in advance, Thushan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Loic\_Guitaut1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee59a6/32.png) [@Loic\_Guitaut1](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Loic_Guitaut1)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/convert-string-to-instance-variable/5738/2 "2006-12-12T12:51:18Z")

</div>

Hi,

Thushan a écrit :

> Is there anyway to convert a string to an instance varible?

Yes there is. Just try instance\_variable\_get("@name") and you'll have the value of @name.

You should read the documentation of the Object class for more information 🙂[http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Object.html](http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Object.html)

Cheers,

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thushan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Thushan](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Thushan)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/convert-string-to-instance-variable/5738/3 "2006-12-13T05:23:02Z")

</div>

Thanks Loïc. instance\_variable\_get and instance\_variable\_set worked for me.

What about local variables?

/ Thushan