A singleton instance of this class is yielded by ActiveSupport::Inflector#inflections, which can then be used to specify additional inflection rules. If passed an optional locale, rules for other languages can be specified. The default locale is :en. Only rules for English are provided.

ActiveSupport::Inflector.inflections(:en) do |inflect|
  inflect.plural /^(ox)$/i, '\1\2en'
  inflect.singular /^(ox)en/i, '\1'

  inflect.irregular 'octopus', 'octopi'

  inflect.uncountable 'equipment'
end

New rules are added at the top. So in the example above, the irregular rule for octopus will now be the first of the pluralization and singularization rules that is runs. This guarantees that your rules run before any of the rules that may already have been loaded.

Namespace
Methods
A
C
H
I
N
P
S
U
Attributes
[R] acronym_regex
[R] acronyms
[R] humans
[R] plurals
[R] singulars
[R] uncountables
Class Public methods
instance(locale = :en)
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 66
def self.instance(locale = :en)
  @__instance__[locale] ||= new
end
new()
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 75
def initialize
  @plurals, @singulars, @uncountables, @humans, @acronyms = [], [], Uncountables.new, [], {}
  define_acronym_regex_patterns
end
Instance Public methods
acronym(word)

Specifies a new acronym. An acronym must be specified as it will appear in a camelized string. An underscore string that contains the acronym will retain the acronym when passed to camelize, humanize, or titleize. A camelized string that contains the acronym will maintain the acronym when titleized or humanized, and will convert the acronym into a non-delimited single lowercase word when passed to underscore.

acronym 'HTML'
titleize 'html'     # => 'HTML'
camelize 'html'     # => 'HTML'
underscore 'MyHTML' # => 'my_html'

The acronym, however, must occur as a delimited unit and not be part of another word for conversions to recognize it:

acronym 'HTTP'
camelize 'my_http_delimited' # => 'MyHTTPDelimited'
camelize 'https'             # => 'Https', not 'HTTPs'
underscore 'HTTPS'           # => 'http_s', not 'https'

acronym 'HTTPS'
camelize 'https'   # => 'HTTPS'
underscore 'HTTPS' # => 'https'

Note: Acronyms that are passed to pluralize will no longer be recognized, since the acronym will not occur as a delimited unit in the pluralized result. To work around this, you must specify the pluralized form as an acronym as well:

acronym 'API'
camelize(pluralize('api')) # => 'Apis'

acronym 'APIs'
camelize(pluralize('api')) # => 'APIs'

acronym may be used to specify any word that contains an acronym or otherwise needs to maintain a non-standard capitalization. The only restriction is that the word must begin with a capital letter.

acronym 'RESTful'
underscore 'RESTful'           # => 'restful'
underscore 'RESTfulController' # => 'restful_controller'
titleize 'RESTfulController'   # => 'RESTful Controller'
camelize 'restful'             # => 'RESTful'
camelize 'restful_controller'  # => 'RESTfulController'

acronym 'McDonald'
underscore 'McDonald' # => 'mcdonald'
camelize 'mcdonald'   # => 'McDonald'
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 137
def acronym(word)
  @acronyms[word.downcase] = word
  define_acronym_regex_patterns
end
clear(scope = :all)

Clears the loaded inflections within a given scope (default is :all). Give the scope as a symbol of the inflection type, the options are: :plurals, :singulars, :uncountables, :humans.

clear :all
clear :plurals
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 226
def clear(scope = :all)
  case scope
  when :all
    @plurals, @singulars, @uncountables, @humans = [], [], Uncountables.new, []
  else
    instance_variable_set "@#{scope}", []
  end
end
human(rule, replacement)

Specifies a humanized form of a string by a regular expression rule or by a string mapping. When using a regular expression based replacement, the normal humanize formatting is called after the replacement. When a string is used, the human form should be specified as desired (example: 'The name', not 'the_name').

human /_cnt$/i, '\1_count'
human 'legacy_col_person_name', 'Name'
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 215
def human(rule, replacement)
  @humans.prepend([rule, replacement])
end
irregular(singular, plural)

Specifies a new irregular that applies to both pluralization and singularization at the same time. This can only be used for strings, not regular expressions. You simply pass the irregular in singular and plural form.

irregular 'octopus', 'octopi'
irregular 'person', 'people'
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 169
def irregular(singular, plural)
  @uncountables.delete(singular)
  @uncountables.delete(plural)

  s0 = singular[0]
  srest = singular[1..-1]

  p0 = plural[0]
  prest = plural[1..-1]

  if s0.upcase == p0.upcase
    plural(/(#{s0})#{srest}$/i, '\1' + prest)
    plural(/(#{p0})#{prest}$/i, '\1' + prest)

    singular(/(#{s0})#{srest}$/i, '\1' + srest)
    singular(/(#{p0})#{prest}$/i, '\1' + srest)
  else
    plural(/#{s0.upcase}(?i)#{srest}$/,   p0.upcase   + prest)
    plural(/#{s0.downcase}(?i)#{srest}$/, p0.downcase + prest)
    plural(/#{p0.upcase}(?i)#{prest}$/,   p0.upcase   + prest)
    plural(/#{p0.downcase}(?i)#{prest}$/, p0.downcase + prest)

    singular(/#{s0.upcase}(?i)#{srest}$/,   s0.upcase   + srest)
    singular(/#{s0.downcase}(?i)#{srest}$/, s0.downcase + srest)
    singular(/#{p0.upcase}(?i)#{prest}$/,   s0.upcase   + srest)
    singular(/#{p0.downcase}(?i)#{prest}$/, s0.downcase + srest)
  end
end
plural(rule, replacement)

Specifies a new pluralization rule and its replacement. The rule can either be a string or a regular expression. The replacement should always be a string that may include references to the matched data from the rule.

# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 146
def plural(rule, replacement)
  @uncountables.delete(rule) if rule.is_a?(String)
  @uncountables.delete(replacement)
  @plurals.prepend([rule, replacement])
end
singular(rule, replacement)

Specifies a new singularization rule and its replacement. The rule can either be a string or a regular expression. The replacement should always be a string that may include references to the matched data from the rule.

# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 156
def singular(rule, replacement)
  @uncountables.delete(rule) if rule.is_a?(String)
  @uncountables.delete(replacement)
  @singulars.prepend([rule, replacement])
end
uncountable(*words)

Specifies words that are uncountable and should not be inflected.

uncountable 'money'
uncountable 'money', 'information'
uncountable %w( money information rice )
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/inflections.rb, line 203
def uncountable(*words)
  @uncountables.add(words)
end