Whilst returning multiple values is often useful, I usually find it's a pointer to a new object requirement.
That is, I usually find that those return values are closely tied together in meaning/context and are passed around as such. So in these cases I would create a new object to tie these together. It's a particular code smell I've learnt to recognise.
ary = [1, 2, 3, 4]
a, b, c = ary
p a # => 1
p b # => 2
p c # => 3
a, b, *c = ary
p c # => [3, 4]
a, b, c, d, e = ary
p d # => 4
p e # => nil
It also has a limited form of structuring bind:
a = 1, 2, 3
p a # => [1, 2, 3]
You can combine those two forms like so:
a, b = b, a # Nice way to swap two variables
a, b = 1, 2, 3
p b # => 2
def foo; return 1, 2 end
a, b = foo
p a # => 1
p b # => 2
There's several other things you can do with destructuring / structuring bind. I didn't show using the splat operator (*) on the right hand side. I didn't show nesting (using parantheses). I didn't show that you can use destructuring bind in the parameter list of a block or method.
Here's just an appetizer:
def foo(((a, b, c, d), e, *f), g, *h)
local_variables.sort.each do |lvar| puts "#{lvar} => #{eval(lvar).inspect}" end
end
foo([[1, 2, 3], 4, 5, 6], 7, 8, 9)
# a => 1
# b => 2
# c => 3
# d => nil
# e => 4
# f => [5, 6]
# g => 7
# h => [8, 9]