irbrc and related Requires/works best with awesome_print and hirb

.irbrc

# awesome print
begin
  require 'awesome_print'
  AwesomePrint.irb!
rescue LoadError => err
  warn "Couldn't load awesome_print: #{err}"
end

# configure irb
# Prompt mode simple just makes prompts look like >> instead of 1.9.3p327 :001 >
IRB.conf[:PROMPT_MODE] = :SIMPLE

# irb history
ARGV.concat [ "--readline", "--prompt-mode", "simple" ]
IRB.conf[:EVAL_HISTORY] = 1000
IRB.conf[:SAVE_HISTORY] = 1000
IRB.conf[:HISTORY_FILE] = File::expand_path("~/.irbhistory")

# load .irbrc_rails in rails environments
railsrc_path = File.expand_path('~/.irbrc_rails')
if ( ENV['RAILS_ENV'] || defined? Rails ) && File.exist?( railsrc_path )
  begin
    load railsrc_path
  rescue Exception
    warn "Could not load: #{ railsrc_path } because of #{$!.message}"
  end
end

.irbrc_rails

# hirb: some nice stuff for Rails
begin
  require 'hirb'
  HIRB_LOADED = true
rescue LoadError
  HIRB_LOADED = false
end

require 'logger'

def loud_logger
  enable_hirb
  set_logger_to Logger.new(STDOUT)
end

def quiet_logger
  disable_hirb
  set_logger_to nil
end

def set_logger_to(logger)
  ActiveRecord::Base.logger = logger
  ActiveRecord::Base.clear_reloadable_connections!
end

def enable_hirb
  if HIRB_LOADED
    Hirb::Formatter.dynamic_config['ActiveRecord::Base']
    Hirb.enable
  else
    puts "hirb is not loaded"
  end
end

def disable_hirb
  if HIRB_LOADED
    Hirb.disable
  else
    puts "hirb is not loaded"
  end
end

# set a nice prompt
rails_root = File.basename(Dir.pwd)
IRB.conf[:PROMPT] ||= {}
IRB.conf[:PROMPT][:RAILS] = {
  :PROMPT_I => "#{rails_root}> ", # normal prompt
  :PROMPT_S => "#{rails_root}* ", # prompt when continuing a string
  :PROMPT_C => "#{rails_root}? ", # prompt when continuing a statement
  :RETURN   => "=> %s\n"          # prefixes output
}
IRB.conf[:PROMPT_MODE] = :RAILS

# turn on the loud logging by default
IRB.conf[:IRB_RC] = Proc.new { loud_logger }