有时值得删除新的行字符\n，如:

conn.exec <<-eos.squish
 select attr1, attr2, attr3, attr4, attr5, attr6, attr7
 from table1, table2, table3, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,
 where etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
eos

如果你不介意额外的空格和换行，你可以使用

conn.exec %w{select attr1, attr2, attr3, attr4, attr5, attr6, attr7
  from table1, table2, table3, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,
  where etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc} * ' '

(使用%W表示插值字符串)

conn.exec [
  "select attr1, attr2, attr3, ...",
  "from table1, table2, table3, ...",
  "where ..."
].join(' ')

这个建议的优点在于，自动缩进器可以适当地缩进文档和长字符串的每个部分。但这是以效率为代价的。

在ruby 2.0中，你现在可以只使用%

例如:

    SQL = %{
      SELECT user, name
      FROM users
      WHERE users.id = #{var}
      LIMIT #{var2}
    }

为了避免每一行的圆括号关闭，你可以简单地使用双引号和反斜杠来转义换行:

"select attr1, attr2, attr3, attr4, attr5, attr6, attr7 \
from table1, table2, table3, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, \
where etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc"

有时值得删除新的行字符\n，如:

conn.exec <<-eos.squish
 select attr1, attr2, attr3, attr4, attr5, attr6, attr7
 from table1, table2, table3, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,
 where etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
eos