Can't access array defined outside my ruby function -

how can access array defined outside function? i've tried adding $coins.length had read somewhere global variable — didn't work. reason define array outside because there other functions below pushing new item same array.

coins = []  def start      puts "it's sunny day. it's warm , feel great."     puts "you've picked son creche. he's in mood , you've got home no problem."     puts "this when troubles start, , know it."     puts "you go out of elevator , before reach door... 'give me keeys'!"     puts "do give him keys? (y/n)"     print "> "       while keys = gets.chomp.downcase         case keys         when "y"             puts "you in, job. , coin"             coins.push("1")             puts "you have #{coins.length} coins"             room         when "n"             cry("i wanted dooooooo iiiiiiiit!")         else                 again         end     end end 

ruby object oriented language. more, ruby appeared on scene motto “everything object.” numbers , (sic!) nil in ruby objects:

▶ 42.class #⇒ fixnum < integer ▶ nil.__id__ #⇒ 8 

so, supposed use objects more complicated one-liner. objects have lot of goodness out of box: instance variables, lifecycle, etc.

class game   def initialize     @coins = []   end    def add_coin(value)     @coins << value   end    def coins     @coins   end    def amount     @coins.size   end end 

now might create in instance of class , while it’s alive, hold value of @coins:

game = game.new game.add_coin("1") puts game.coins #⇒ ["1"] puts game.amount #⇒ 1 game.add_coin("1") game.add_coin("2") puts game.coins #⇒ ["1", "1", "2"] puts game.amount #⇒ 3