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The ruby exec() function takes a vararg for its second parameter to provide arguments to the program being executed. However, I would like to pass an array of arguments (for various reasons). I could work around this by just giving exec a completed string but that involves the shell (and escaping possible parameters). Additionally, as far as I can tell, collapsing the arguments into one string will pass them as one argument to my program -- I want their distinctness to be preserved. Is it possible to pass an array to a varargs argument in a ruby function? (note that, in this case, I can't modify exec() to accept any wrapping or shifts).

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up vote 20 down vote accepted

You can use the splat operator like this:

exec("echo", *["hello","world"])
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Awesome, exactly what I needed. Thanks! –  wickedchicken Mar 8 '11 at 1:44

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