[DOC] New doc about erb executable

Author: BurdetteLamar

_doc/erb_executable.md

@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+# \ERB Executable
+
+The `erb` executable gives command-line access to ERB template processing.
+
+The executable is installed with \ERB, which is part of the Ruby installation.
+
+For a quick summary, type:
+
+```
+$ erb --help
+```
+
+The format of the command is
+`erb [_options_] [_filepaths_]`,
+where:
+
+- `_options_` are zero or more [ERB options][options].
+- `_filepaths_` are zero or more paths to files containing [ERB input][input].
+
+## Input
+
+With no *_filepaths_* given, \ERB reads input from the standard input:
+
+```bash
+$ echo "<%= RUBY_VERSION %>" | erb # Prints the ERB version string.
+```
+
+With *_filepaths_* given, \ERB reads input from each of the given files:
+
+```bash
+$ cat t.erb
+<%= RUBY_VERSION %>
+<%= Time.now %>
+$ cat u.erb
+% Encoding.list.take(4).each do |encoding|
+* <%= encoding %>
+% end
+$ erb t.erb u.erb
+3.4.5
+2025-09-24 00:23:00 +0100
+* ASCII-8BIT
+* UTF-8
+* US-ASCII
+* UTF-16BE
+```
+
+
+## Options
+
+### `-d`, `--debug`: Set $DEBUG
+
+Use option `-d` or `--debug` to turn on debugging output:
+
+```bash
+$ echo "<%= $DEBUG %>" | erb
+"false"
+$echo "<%= $DEBUG %>" | erb --debug
+"true"
+```
+
+### `-E`, `--encoding`: Set Encodings
+
+Use option `-E` or `--encoding` to set the default external encoding to `_ex_`
+and, if `_in_` is given, to set the default internal encoding to `_in_`.
+
+Each encoding, `ex` and `in`, must be the name of an Encoding:
+
+```
+erb  -E ASCII-8BIT:ASCII-8BIT t.erb
+```
+
+### `-h`, `--help`: Print Help
+
+Use option `-h` or `--help` to print \ERB help text:
+
+```bash
+$ erb --help
+```
+
+### `-n`: Print Source with Line Numbers
+
+Use option `-n` with option `-x` to print the output of ERB#src,
+with numbered lines:
+
+```bash
+$ cat t.erb
+<%= RUBY_VERSION %>
+<%= Time.now %>
+$ erb -n -x t.erb
+  1 #coding:UTF-8
+  2 _erbout = +''; _erbout.<<(( RUBY_VERSION ).to_s); _erbout.<< "\n".freeze
+  3 ; _erbout.<<(( Time.now ).to_s); _erbout.<< "\n".freeze
+  4 ; _erbout
+```
+
+Using option `-n` without option `-x` has no effect:
+
+```bash
+$ erb -n t.erb
+3.4.5
+2025-09-23 02:44:57 +0100
+```
+
+### `-P`: Disable Execution Tag Shorthand
+
+By default, `erb` enables [execution tag shorthand][execution tag shorthand]:
+
+```
+$ cat u.erb
+% Encoding.list.take(4).each do |encoding|
+* <%= encoding %>
+% end
+$ erb u.erb
+* ASCII-8BIT
+* UTF-8
+* US-ASCII
+* UTF-16BE
+```
+
+You can use option `-P` to disable the shorthand:
+
+```
+$ erb -P u.erb # Raises NameError: "undefined local variable or method 'encoding'"
+```
+
+### `-r`: Load Library
+
+You can use option `-r` to load a library;
+the option may be given multiple times, to load multiple libraries:
+
+```
+$ erb -r csv -r bigdecimal t.erb
+```
+
+### `-T`: Set Trim Mode
+
+You can use option `-T` to set the trim mode.
+
+The values for the option are:
+
+- `'0'`, meaning `'%'`; enable execution tag shorthand;
+  see [execution tag shorthand][execution tag shorthand].
+- `'1'`, meaning `'%>'`: enable execution tag shorthand and omit newline for each line ending with `'%>'`;
+  see [suppressing unwanted newlines][suppressing unwanted newlines].
+- `'2'`, meaning `'<>'`:  to suppress the trailing newline for each line
+  that both begins with `'<%'` and ends with `'%>'`;
+  see [suppressing unwanted newlines][suppressing unwanted newlines].
+- `'-'`, meaning `'%-'`: enable execution tag shorthand and omit each blank line ending with `'-%>'`.
+  see [execution tag shorthand][execution tag shorthand]
+  and [suppressing unwanted blank lines][suppressing unwanted blank lines].
+
+Example:
+
+```bash
+$ erb -T 0 t.erb
+```
+
+### `-U`: Set Default Encodings to UTF-8
+
+You can use option `-U` to set both external and internal encodings to UTF-8:
+
+```bash
+$ erb -U t.erb
+```
+
+### `-v`: Set $VERBOSE
+
+Use option `-V` to turn on verbose output:
+
+```bash
+$ $ "<%= $VERBOSE %>" | erb
+"false"
+$ echo "<%= $VERBOSE %>" | erb -v
+"true"
+```
+
+### --help`: Print \ERB Version
+
+Use option `-h` or `--help` to print the \ERB version string:
+
+```bash
+$ erb --version
+```
+
+### `-x`: Print Source
+
+Use option `-x` to print the output of ERB#src:
+
+```bash
+$ cat t.erb
+<%= RUBY_VERSION %>
+<%= Time.now %>
+$ erb -x t.erb
+#coding:UTF-8
+_erbout = +''; _erbout.<<(( RUBY_VERSION ).to_s); _erbout.<< "\n".freeze
+; _erbout.<<(( Time.now ).to_s); _erbout.<< "\n".freeze
+; _erbout
+```
+
+### `name=value`: Set the Value of a Variable
+
+You can use option `name=value` to set the value of the variable named `name`
+to the given `value`.
+
+The option may be given multiple times to set multiple variables:
+
+```bash
+$ echo "<%= foo %> <%= bar %>" | erb foo=1 bar=2
+"1 2"
+```
+
+[erb.new]: https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/master/ERB.html#method-c-new.
+[execution tag shorthand]: rdoc-ref:ERB@Shorthand+Format+for+Execution+Tags
+[input]: rdoc-ref:erb_executable.md@Input
+[options]: rdoc-ref:erb_executable.md@Options
+[suppressing unwanted blank lines]: rdoc-ref:ERB@Suppressing+Unwanted+Blank+Lines
+[suppressing unwanted newlines]: rdoc-ref:ERB@Suppressing+Unwanted+Newlines