Question: In my application in user registration I have a country picker..

```
<%= select(:user, :country, options_for_select(@COUNTRIES)) %>

```

And I want to add a prompt as a first default value (something like "--- select country ---"). Where and how should I put this option?

Answer: 
Use the FormHelper `:prompt`

```
select(:user, :country, options_for_select(@COUNTRIES), {:prompt => "--select county--"})

```

<http://apidock.com/rails/ActionView/Helpers/FormOptionsHelper>
Very simple:

```
select(:user, :country, options_for_select(@COUNTRIES), :prompt=>true)

```

For the prompt "Please select", or this for your custom text:

```
select(:user, :country, options_for_select(@COUNTRIES), :prompt=>"Select country")

```

Also note that `@COUNTRIES` is wrong, an instance variable should be lowercase - `@countries`, a contant would just be `COUNTRIES`.