Ruby - adding a directory to $LOAD_PATH - what does it do?

Question

This is actually a question about this question: Adding a directory to $LOAD_PATH (Ruby)

What happens when you add a directory to the $LOAD_PATH? Is it like adding a script file to the execution context as in JavaScript? (You can access global methods/objects in another files) If not, how do I call the methods of other ruby files in the current directory?

Answer 1

When you add the /Users/you/scripts/ruby directory to the load path, you can use:

require 'example'

instead of:

require '/Users/you/scripts/ruby/example.rb'

Answer 2

Think of the $LOAD_PATH as to being similar to the PATH variable on a operating system. If certain directories are in the LOAD_PATH, you can just write require "some_module". It's also the reason for being able to require files from the current directory.

By default, the LOAD_PATH no longer includes the current directory . having been removed in Ruby 1.9.2.