Is there a way to use pluralize() inside a model rather than a view?

Rather than extend things, I just it like this:

ActionController::Base.helpers.pluralize(count, 'mystring')

Hope this helps someone else!

YOu can add a method like this in your model

  def self.pluralize(word)
    ActiveSupport::Inflector.pluralize(word)
  end

and call it in this way

City.pluralize("ruby")
=> "rubies"

Add this to your model:

include ActionView::Helpers::TextHelper

My favorite way is to create a TextHelper in my app that provides these as class methods for use in my model:

app/helpers/text_helper.rb

module TextHelper                       
  extend ActionView::Helpers::TextHelper
end                                     

app/models/any_model.rb

def validate_something
  ...
  errors.add(:base, "#{TextHelper.pluralize(count, 'things')} are missing")
end

Including ActionView::Helpers::TextHelper in your models works, but you also litter up your model with lots of helper methods that don't need to be there.

It's also not nearly as clear where the pluralize method came from in your model. This method makes it explicit - TextHelper.pluralize.

Finally, you won't have to add an include to every model that wants to pluralize something; you can just call it on TextHelper directly.