Include the English library file in a Ruby script, and you can reference the global variables such as VAR{$_} using less cryptic names, listed in the following table.% vref{tab:english}.

Without 'English':

$\ = ' -- '
"waterbuffalo" =~ /buff/
print $", $', $$, "\n"

With English:

require "English"

$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR = ' -- '
"waterbuffalo" =~ /buff/
print $LOADED_FEATURES, $POSTMATCH, $PID, "\n"

Below is a full list of descriptive aliases and their associated global variable:

$ERROR_INFO

$!

$ERROR_POSITION

$@

$FS

$;

$FIELD_SEPARATOR

$;

$OFS

$,

$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR

$,

$RS

$/

$INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR

$/

$ORS

$\

$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR

$\

$INPUT_LINE_NUMBER

$.

$NR

$.

$LAST_READ_LINE

$_

$DEFAULT_OUTPUT

$>

$DEFAULT_INPUT

$<

$PID

$$

$PROCESS_ID

$$

$CHILD_STATUS

$?

$LAST_MATCH_INFO

$~

$IGNORECASE

$=

$ARGV

$*

$MATCH

$&

$PREMATCH

$`

$POSTMATCH

$'

$LAST_PAREN_MATCH

$+