class Object def scan_iter case self when ::Array length.times { |i| yield self[i], "[#{i}]" } when ::Hash each { |k, v| yield v, "[#{k.inspect}]" ; yield k, "(key)" } else instance_variables.each { |i| yield instance_variable_get(i), ".#{i[1..-1]}" } end end # dumps to stdout the path to find some targets ( array of objects to match with == ) def scan_for(targets, path, done={}) done[object_id] = self if done.empty? if t = targets.find { |t_| self == t_ } puts "found #{t} at #{path}" end scan_iter { |v, p| case v when Fixnum, Symbol; next end p = path+p if done[v.object_id] puts "loop #{p} -> #{done[v.object_id]}" if $VERBOSE else done[v.object_id] = p v.scan_for(targets, p, done) end } end end