updated Pry.view_clip() to call #inspect on Numerics, Strings and Symbols, added tests for this. Also added new CLIPPED_PRINT printer (using Pry.view_clip), perhaps useful for enormous objects)

lib/pry.rb

@@ -45,6 +45,11 @@ class Pry
     end
   end
 
+  # useful when playing with truly enormous objects
+  CLIPPED_PRINT = proc do |output, value|
+    output.puts "=> #{Pry.view_clip(value)}"
+  end
+
   # Will only show the first line of the backtrace
   DEFAULT_EXCEPTION_HANDLER = proc do |output, exception|
     output.puts "#{exception.class}: #{exception.message}"
@@ -69,6 +74,7 @@ class Pry
                       end
                     }
                    ]
+
   # Deal with the ^D key being pressed, different behaviour in
   # different cases:
   # 1) In an expression     - behave like `!` command   (clear input buffer)

lib/pry/pry_class.rb

@@ -106,11 +106,13 @@ class Pry
     elsif TOPLEVEL_BINDING.eval('self') == obj
       # special case for 'main' object :)
       obj.inspect
+    elsif [String, Numeric, Symbol].any? { |v| v === obj } && obj.inspect.length <= max_length
+      obj.inspect
     else
       "#<#{obj.class}:%#x>" % (obj.object_id << 1)
     end
 
-  rescue
+  rescue RescuableException
     "unknown"
   end
 

test/test_pry.rb

@@ -1142,6 +1142,20 @@ describe Pry do
               end
             end
 
+            describe "given the a Numeric, String or Symbol object" do
+              [1, 2.0, -5, "hello", :test].each do |o|
+                it "returns the #inspect of the special-cased immediate object: #{o}" do
+                  Pry.view_clip(o, VC_MAX_LENGTH).should == o.inspect
+                end
+              end
+
+              # only testing with String here :)
+              it "returns #<> format of the special-cased immediate object if #inspect is longer than maximum" do
+                o = "o" * (VC_MAX_LENGTH + 1)
+                Pry.view_clip(o, VC_MAX_LENGTH).should =~ /String:0x.*?/
+              end
+            end
+
             describe "given an object with an #inspect string as long as the maximum specified" do
               it "returns the #<> format of the object (never use inspect)" do
                 o = Object.new