instance method local_assigns

Returns a hash with the defined local variables.

Given this sub template rendering:

<%= render "application/header", { headline: "Welcome", person: person } %>

You can use local_assigns in the sub templates to access the local variables:

local_assigns[:headline] # => "Welcome"

Each key in local_assigns is available as a partial-local variable:

local_assigns[:headline] # => "Welcome"
headline                 # => "Welcome"

Since local_assigns is a Hash, it’s compatible with Ruby 3.1’s pattern matching assignment operator:

local_assigns => { headline:, **options }
headline                 # => "Welcome"
options                  # => {}

Pattern matching assignment also supports variable renaming:

local_assigns => { headline: title }
title                    # => "Welcome"

If a template refers to a variable that isn’t passed into the view as part of the locals: { ... } Hash, the template will raise an ActionView::Template::Error:

<%# => raises ActionView::Template::Error %>
<% alerts.each do |alert| %>
  <p><%= alert %></p>
<% end %>

Since local_assigns returns a Hash instance, you can conditionally read a variable, then fall back to a default value when the key isn’t part of the locals: { ... } options:

<% local_assigns.fetch(:alerts, []).each do |alert| %>
  <p><%= alert %></p>
<% end %>

Combining Ruby 3.1’s pattern matching assignment with calls to +Hash#with_defaults+ enables compact partial-local variable assignments:

<% local_assigns.with_defaults(alerts: []) => { headline:, alerts: } %>

<h1><%= headline %></h1>

<% alerts.each do |alert| %>
  <p><%= alert %></p>
<% end %>

By default, templates will accept any locals as keyword arguments and make them available to local_assigns. To restrict what local_assigns a template will accept, add a locals: magic comment:

<%# locals: (headline:, alerts: []) %>

<h1><%= headline %></h1>

<% alerts.each do |alert| %>
  <p><%= alert %></p>
<% end %>

Read more about strict locals in Action View Overview in the guides.