initializing and incrementing a variable in one line of code

Question

Is this the DRYest way to do it in ruby?

<% for item in @items %>
  <%= n = n + 1 rescue n = 1 %>
<% end %>

which initializes "n" to '1" and increments it as the loop progresses (and prints it out) since this is in one my app's views

Answer 1

You can use a ternary operator:

<% for item in @items %>
  <%= n = n ? n+1 : 1 %>
<% end %>

But, depending on what you're trying to do, I'm guessing an each_with_index would be more appropriate

<% @items.each_with_index do |item, n| %>
  <%= n %>
<% end %>

Answer 2

You could also rely on ruby's nil coercion to an integer which results in zero.

<% for item in @items %>
  <%= n = n.to_i + 1 %>
<% end %>