How to embed Ruby in JavaScript (Rails + .html.erb file)

Question

I have a .html.erb file, with some javascript in it. I would like to do something like this:

var stuff = '<div><%= @ruby_var.title %></div>' 

What is the best way to do this? I may be totally off... Thanks.

Answer 1

To safely do this you need to use to_json:

<%= javascript_tag do %>   var stuff = <%= @ruby_var.title.to_json %>; <% end %> 

This will ensure your code does not break if @ruby_var.title has a quote in it.

To include the divs I would do:

<%= javascript_tag do %>   var stuff = <%= "<div>#{@ruby_var.title}</div>".to_json %>; <% end %> 

Note that there are no quotes around <%= %>, to_json takes care of that for you.