How do I actually run a Ruby file with IronRuby?

So you've got the code, compiled it, and want to make sure things are working.

1. Add the directory that ir.exe gets compiled into to your PATH environment variable. By default this path is:

[path_to_ironruby_code]trunk/build/debug

where [path_to_ironruby_code] is the directory you checked the source code out into. You may or may not have a trunk directory below the root depending on how you pulled the source code down from subversion.

2. Create a ruby file named hello.rb in your favorite text editor. Add the following code to it:

puts 'Hello from IronRuby!'

and save it anywhere on your drive.

3. Open a command-prompt window and change into the directory you just saved the ruby file into. Run this command:

ir hello.rb