What is invalid next in Ruby?

Question

The following code works:

collection.each do |i|
  begin
    next if i > 10
    i += 1
  rescue
    puts "could not process #{ i }"
  end
end

However, when we refactor:

collection.each do |i|
  begin
    increment i
  rescue
    puts "could not process #{ i }"
  end
end

def increment i
  next if i > 10
  i += 1
end

I get invalid next error. Is this a limitation of Ruby (1.9.3)?

Does the begin rescue block work the same way if there is an exception in the increment method?

Answer 1

Your next statement must occur inside a loop. There's no loop inside your increment method.

Exceptions will 'bubble up', so if there's an exception in your increment method, it will be caught by the rescue section of the calling method.