Inline documentation of system commands

gistfile1.txt

# Was trying to figure out a nice way to document oblique system
# commands embedded in a ruby script. I think a nice way is to 
# write inline comments then gsub them out and collapse newlines
# before running system().

uri = 'http://example.com'
command = ("curl
            -i                            # print header
            -L                            # follow HTTP 302s 
            -H 'Cache-control: no-cache' 
            --cert ~/ca.pem
            -k                            # ignore dodgy certificates
            -s
            %s" % [uri]).gsub!(/#([^\n]+)|\n/m, '')

puts `#{command}`

http://rubular.com/r/A8eyPz8Zwp