What is a better way to check for a nil object before calling a method on it?

Question

I have this method call I have to use... ``` financial_document.assets.length ``` But `financial_document.assets` could be `nil`. I could use... ``` financial_document.assets.nil? ? '0' : financial_document.assets.length ``` Is there a less repetitive way to do that?

Accepted Answer

Personally, I would use the `or` operator/keyword:

```
(financial_document.assets or []).length
```

Either way, `.length` is called on an array, giving you `0` if `nil`.

What is a better way to check for a nil object before calling a method on it?

Solution

Problem