Ruby 1.9.0 リファレンスマニュアル > ライブラリ一覧 > library _builtin > class Integer > ord
ord -> IntegerReturns the int itself.
?a.ord #=> 97
This method is intended for compatibility to character constant in Ruby 1.9. For example, ?a.ord returns 97 both in 1.8 and 1.9.