Class

A Hash is a dictionary-like collection of unique keys and their values. Also called associative arrays, they are similar to Arrays, but where an Array uses integers as its index, a Hash allows you to use any object type.

Hashes enumerate their values in the order that the corresponding keys were inserted.

A Hash can be easily created by using its implicit form:

grades = { "Jane Doe" => 10, "Jim Doe" => 6 }

Hashes allow an alternate syntax for keys that are symbols. Instead of

options = { :font_size => 10, :font_family => "Arial" }

You could write it as:

options = { font_size: 10, font_family: "Arial" }

Each named key is a symbol you can access in hash:

options[:font_size]  # => 10

A Hash can also be created through its ::new method:

grades = Hash.new
grades["Dorothy Doe"] = 9

Hashes have a default value that is returned when accessing keys that do not exist in the hash. If no default is set nil is used. You can set the default value by sending it as an argument to Hash.new:

grades = Hash.new(0)

Or by using the default= method:

grades = {"Timmy Doe" => 8}
grades.default = 0

Accessing a value in a Hash requires using its key:

puts grades["Jane Doe"] # => 0

Common Uses

Hashes are an easy way to represent data structures, such as

books         = {}
books[:matz]  = "The Ruby Programming Language"
books[:black] = "The Well-Grounded Rubyist"

Hashes are also commonly used as a way to have named parameters in functions. Note that no brackets are used below. If a hash is the last argument on a method call, no braces are needed, thus creating a really clean interface:

Person.create(name: "John Doe", age: 27)

def self.create(params)
  @name = params[:name]
  @age  = params[:age]
end

Hash Keys

Two objects refer to the same hash key when their hash value is identical and the two objects are eql? to each other.

A user-defined class may be used as a hash key if the hash and eql? methods are overridden to provide meaningful behavior. By default, separate instances refer to separate hash keys.

A typical implementation of hash is based on the object’s data while eql? is usually aliased to the overridden == method:

class Book
  attr_reader :author, :title

  def initialize(author, title)
    @author = author
    @title = title
  end

  def ==(other)
    self.class === other and
      other.author == @author and
      other.title == @title
  end

  alias eql? ==

  def hash
    @author.hash ^ @title.hash # XOR
  end
end

book1 = Book.new 'matz', 'Ruby in a Nutshell'
book2 = Book.new 'matz', 'Ruby in a Nutshell'

reviews = {}

reviews[book1] = 'Great reference!'
reviews[book2] = 'Nice and compact!'

reviews.length #=> 1

See also Object#hash and Object#eql?

Class Methods

Creates a new hash populated with the given objects.

Similar to the literal { key => value, ... }. In the first form, keys and values occur in pairs, so there must be an even number of arguments.

The second and third form take a single argument which is either an array of key-value pairs or an object convertible to a hash.

Hash["a", 100, "b", 200]             #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200}
Hash[ [ ["a", 100], ["b", 200] ] ]   #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200}
Hash["a" => 100, "b" => 200]         #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200}

Returns a new, empty hash. If this hash is subsequently accessed by a key that doesn’t correspond to a hash entry, the value returned depends on the style of new used to create the hash. In the first form, the access returns nil. If obj is specified, this single object will be used for all default values. If a block is specified, it will be called with the hash object and the key, and should return the default value. It is the block’s responsibility to store the value in the hash if required.

h = Hash.new("Go Fish")
h["a"] = 100
h["b"] = 200
h["a"]           #=> 100
h["c"]           #=> "Go Fish"
# The following alters the single default object
h["c"].upcase!   #=> "GO FISH"
h["d"]           #=> "GO FISH"
h.keys           #=> ["a", "b"]

# While this creates a new default object each time
h = Hash.new { |hash, key| hash[key] = "Go Fish: #{key}" }
h["c"]           #=> "Go Fish: c"
h["c"].upcase!   #=> "GO FISH: C"
h["d"]           #=> "Go Fish: d"
h.keys           #=> ["c", "d"]

Try to convert obj into a hash, using to_hash method. Returns converted hash or nil if obj cannot be converted for any reason.

Hash.try_convert({1=>2})   # => {1=>2}
Hash.try_convert("1=>2")   # => nil
Instance Methods

Returns true if hash is subset of other.

h1 = {a:1, b:2}
h2 = {a:1, b:2, c:3}
h1 < h2    #=> true
h2 < h1    #=> false
h1 < h1    #=> false

Returns true if hash is subset of other or equals to other.

h1 = {a:1, b:2}
h2 = {a:1, b:2, c:3}
h1 <= h2   #=> true
h2 <= h1   #=> false
h1 <= h1   #=> true

Equality—Two hashes are equal if they each contain the same number of keys and if each key-value pair is equal to (according to Object#==) the corresponding elements in the other hash.

h1 = { "a" => 1, "c" => 2 }
h2 = { 7 => 35, "c" => 2, "a" => 1 }
h3 = { "a" => 1, "c" => 2, 7 => 35 }
h4 = { "a" => 1, "d" => 2, "f" => 35 }
h1 == h2   #=> false
h2 == h3   #=> true
h3 == h4   #=> false

The orders of each hashes are not compared.

h1 = { "a" => 1, "c" => 2 }
h2 = { "c" => 2, "a" => 1 }
h1 == h2   #=> true

Returns true if other is subset of hash.

h1 = {a:1, b:2}
h2 = {a:1, b:2, c:3}
h1 > h2    #=> false
h2 > h1    #=> true
h1 > h1    #=> false

Returns true if other is subset of hash or equals to hash.

h1 = {a:1, b:2}
h2 = {a:1, b:2, c:3}
h1 >= h2   #=> false
h2 >= h1   #=> true
h1 >= h1   #=> true

Element Reference—Retrieves the value object corresponding to the key object. If not found, returns the default value (see Hash::new for details).

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h["a"]   #=> 100
h["c"]   #=> nil

Element Assignment

Associates the value given by value with the key given by key.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h["a"] = 9
h["c"] = 4
h   #=> {"a"=>9, "b"=>200, "c"=>4}
h.store("d", 42) #=> 42
h   #=> {"a"=>9, "b"=>200, "c"=>4, "d"=>42}

key should not have its value changed while it is in use as a key (an unfrozen String passed as a key will be duplicated and frozen).

a = "a"
b = "b".freeze
h = { a => 100, b => 200 }
h.key(100).equal? a #=> false
h.key(200).equal? b #=> true

See also Enumerable#any?

Searches through the hash comparing obj with the key using ==. Returns the key-value pair (two elements array) or nil if no match is found. See Array#assoc.

h = {"colors"  => ["red", "blue", "green"],
     "letters" => ["a", "b", "c" ]}
h.assoc("letters")  #=> ["letters", ["a", "b", "c"]]
h.assoc("foo")      #=> nil

Removes all key-value pairs from hsh.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }   #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200}
h.clear                          #=> {}

Returns a new hash with the nil values/key pairs removed

h = { a: 1, b: false, c: nil }
h.compact     #=> { a: 1, b: false }
h             #=> { a: 1, b: false, c: nil }

Removes all nil values from the hash. Returns nil if no changes were made, otherwise returns the hash.

h = { a: 1, b: false, c: nil }
h.compact!     #=> { a: 1, b: false }

Makes hsh compare its keys by their identity, i.e. it will consider exact same objects as same keys.

h1 = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200, :c => "c" }
h1["a"]        #=> 100
h1.compare_by_identity
h1.compare_by_identity? #=> true
h1["a".dup]    #=> nil  # different objects.
h1[:c]         #=> "c"  # same symbols are all same.

Returns true if hsh will compare its keys by their identity. Also see Hash#compare_by_identity.

Returns the default value, the value that would be returned by hsh[key] if key did not exist in hsh. See also Hash::new and Hash#default=.

h = Hash.new                            #=> {}
h.default                               #=> nil
h.default(2)                            #=> nil

h = Hash.new("cat")                     #=> {}
h.default                               #=> "cat"
h.default(2)                            #=> "cat"

h = Hash.new {|h,k| h[k] = k.to_i*10}   #=> {}
h.default                               #=> nil
h.default(2)                            #=> 20

Sets the default value, the value returned for a key that does not exist in the hash. It is not possible to set the default to a Proc that will be executed on each key lookup.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.default = "Go fish"
h["a"]     #=> 100
h["z"]     #=> "Go fish"
# This doesn't do what you might hope...
h.default = proc do |hash, key|
  hash[key] = key + key
end
h[2]       #=> #<Proc:0x401b3948@-:6>
h["cat"]   #=> #<Proc:0x401b3948@-:6>

If Hash::new was invoked with a block, return that block, otherwise return nil.

h = Hash.new {|h,k| h[k] = k*k }   #=> {}
p = h.default_proc                 #=> #<Proc:0x401b3d08@-:1>
a = []                             #=> []
p.call(a, 2)
a                                  #=> [nil, nil, 4]

Sets the default proc to be executed on each failed key lookup.

h.default_proc = proc do |hash, key|
  hash[key] = key + key
end
h[2]       #=> 4
h["cat"]   #=> "catcat"

Deletes the key-value pair and returns the value from hsh whose key is equal to key. If the key is not found, it returns nil. If the optional code block is given and the key is not found, pass in the key and return the result of block.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.delete("a")                              #=> 100
h.delete("z")                              #=> nil
h.delete("z") { |el| "#{el} not found" }   #=> "z not found"

Deletes every key-value pair from hsh for which block evaluates to true.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200, "c" => 300 }
h.delete_if {|key, value| key >= "b" }   #=> {"a"=>100}

Extracts the nested value specified by the sequence of key objects by calling dig at each step, returning nil if any intermediate step is nil.

h = { foo: {bar: {baz: 1}}}

h.dig(:foo, :bar, :baz)     #=> 1
h.dig(:foo, :zot, :xyz)     #=> nil

g = { foo: [10, 11, 12] }
g.dig(:foo, 1)              #=> 11
g.dig(:foo, 1, 0)           #=> TypeError: Integer does not have #dig method
g.dig(:foo, :bar)           #=> TypeError: no implicit conversion of Symbol into Integer

Calls block once for each key in hsh, passing the key as a parameter.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.each_key {|key| puts key }

produces:

a
b

Calls block once for each key in hsh, passing the key-value pair as parameters.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.each {|key, value| puts "#{key} is #{value}" }

produces:

a is 100
b is 200

Calls block once for each key in hsh, passing the value as a parameter.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.each_value {|value| puts value }

produces:

100
200

Returns true if hsh contains no key-value pairs.

{}.empty?   #=> true

Returns true if hash and other are both hashes with the same content. The orders of each hashes are not compared.

Returns a value from the hash for the given key. If the key can’t be found, there are several options: With no other arguments, it will raise a KeyError exception; if default is given, then that will be returned; if the optional code block is specified, then that will be run and its result returned.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.fetch("a")                            #=> 100
h.fetch("z", "go fish")                 #=> "go fish"
h.fetch("z") { |el| "go fish, #{el}"}   #=> "go fish, z"

The following example shows that an exception is raised if the key is not found and a default value is not supplied.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.fetch("z")

produces:

prog.rb:2:in `fetch': key not found (KeyError)
 from prog.rb:2

Returns an array containing the values associated with the given keys but also raises KeyError when one of keys can’t be found. Also see Hash#values_at and Hash#fetch.

h = { "cat" => "feline", "dog" => "canine", "cow" => "bovine" }

h.fetch_values("cow", "cat")                   #=> ["bovine", "feline"]
h.fetch_values("cow", "bird")                  # raises KeyError
h.fetch_values("cow", "bird") { |k| k.upcase } #=> ["bovine", "BIRD"]

Returns a new array that is a one-dimensional flattening of this hash. That is, for every key or value that is an array, extract its elements into the new array. Unlike Array#flatten, this method does not flatten recursively by default. The optional level argument determines the level of recursion to flatten.

a =  {1=> "one", 2 => [2,"two"], 3 => "three"}
a.flatten    # => [1, "one", 2, [2, "two"], 3, "three"]
a.flatten(2) # => [1, "one", 2, 2, "two", 3, "three"]

Returns true if the given value is present for some key in hsh.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.value?(100)   #=> true
h.value?(999)   #=> false

Compute a hash-code for this hash. Two hashes with the same content will have the same hash code (and will compare using eql?).

See also Object#hash.

Returns true if the given key is present in hsh.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.has_key?("a")   #=> true
h.has_key?("z")   #=> false

Note that include? and member? do not test member equality using == as do other Enumerables.

See also Enumerable#include?

Return the contents of this hash as a string.

h = { "c" => 300, "a" => 100, "d" => 400, "c" => 300  }
h.to_s   #=> "{\"c\"=>300, \"a\"=>100, \"d\"=>400}"

Returns a new hash created by using hsh’s values as keys, and the keys as values. If a key with the same value already exists in the hsh, then the last one defined will be used, the earlier value(s) will be discarded.

h = { "n" => 100, "m" => 100, "y" => 300, "d" => 200, "a" => 0 }
h.invert   #=> {0=>"a", 100=>"m", 200=>"d", 300=>"y"}

If there is no key with the same value, Hash#invert is involutive.

h = { a: 1, b: 3, c: 4 }
h.invert.invert == h #=> true

The condition, no key with the same value, can be tested by comparing the size of inverted hash.

# no key with the same value
h = { a: 1, b: 3, c: 4 }
h.size == h.invert.size #=> true

# two (or more) keys has the same value
h = { a: 1, b: 3, c: 1 }
h.size == h.invert.size #=> false

Deletes every key-value pair from hsh for which block evaluates to false.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

See also Hash#select!.

Returns the key of an occurrence of a given value. If the value is not found, returns nil.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200, "c" => 300, "d" => 300 }
h.key(200)   #=> "b"
h.key(300)   #=> "c"
h.key(999)   #=> nil

Returns a new array populated with the keys from this hash. See also Hash#values.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200, "c" => 300, "d" => 400 }
h.keys   #=> ["a", "b", "c", "d"]

Returns a new hash that combines the contents of the receiver and the contents of the given hashes.

If no block is given, entries with duplicate keys are overwritten with the values from each other_hash successively, otherwise the value for each duplicate key is determined by calling the block with the key, its value in the receiver and its value in each other_hash.

When called without any argument, returns a copy of the receiver.

h1 = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h2 = { "b" => 246, "c" => 300 }
h3 = { "b" => 357, "d" => 400 }
h1.merge          #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200}
h1.merge(h2)      #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>246, "c"=>300}
h1.merge(h2, h3)  #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>357, "c"=>300, "d"=>400}
h1.merge(h2) {|key, oldval, newval| newval - oldval}
                  #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>46,  "c"=>300}
h1.merge(h2, h3) {|key, oldval, newval| newval - oldval}
                  #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>311, "c"=>300, "d"=>400}
h1                #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200}

Searches through the hash comparing obj with the value using ==. Returns the first key-value pair (two-element array) that matches. See also Array#rassoc.

a = {1=> "one", 2 => "two", 3 => "three", "ii" => "two"}
a.rassoc("two")    #=> [2, "two"]
a.rassoc("four")   #=> nil

Rebuilds the hash based on the current hash values for each key. If values of key objects have changed since they were inserted, this method will reindex hsh. If Hash#rehash is called while an iterator is traversing the hash, a RuntimeError will be raised in the iterator.

a = [ "a", "b" ]
c = [ "c", "d" ]
h = { a => 100, c => 300 }
h[a]       #=> 100
a[0] = "z"
h[a]       #=> nil
h.rehash   #=> {["z", "b"]=>100, ["c", "d"]=>300}
h[a]       #=> 100

Returns a new hash consisting of entries for which the block returns false.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200, "c" => 300 }
h.reject {|k,v| k < "b"}  #=> {"b" => 200, "c" => 300}
h.reject {|k,v| v > 100}  #=> {"a" => 100}

Equivalent to Hash#delete_if, but returns nil if no changes were made.

Replaces the contents of hsh with the contents of other_hash.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h.replace({ "c" => 300, "d" => 400 })   #=> {"c"=>300, "d"=>400}

Returns a new hash consisting of entries for which the block returns true.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200, "c" => 300 }
h.select {|k,v| k > "a"}  #=> {"b" => 200, "c" => 300}
h.select {|k,v| v < 200}  #=> {"a" => 100}

Hash#filter is an alias for Hash#select.

Equivalent to Hash#keep_if, but returns nil if no changes were made.

Hash#filter! is an alias for Hash#select!.

Removes a key-value pair from hsh and returns it as the two-item array [ key, value ], or the hash’s default value if the hash is empty.

h = { 1 => "a", 2 => "b", 3 => "c" }
h.shift   #=> [1, "a"]
h         #=> {2=>"b", 3=>"c"}

Returns the number of key-value pairs in the hash.

h = { "d" => 100, "a" => 200, "v" => 300, "e" => 400 }
h.size          #=> 4
h.delete("a")   #=> 200
h.size          #=> 3
h.length        #=> 3

Hash#length is an alias for Hash#size.

Returns a hash containing only the given keys and their values.

h = { a: 100, b: 200, c: 300 }
h.slice(:a)           #=> {:a=>100}
h.slice(:b, :c, :d)   #=> {:b=>200, :c=>300}

Converts hsh to a nested array of [ key, value ] arrays.

h = { "c" => 300, "a" => 100, "d" => 400, "c" => 300  }
h.to_a   #=> [["c", 300], ["a", 100], ["d", 400]]

Returns self. If called on a subclass of Hash, converts the receiver to a Hash object.

If a block is given, the results of the block on each pair of the receiver will be used as pairs.

Returns self.

Returns a Proc which maps keys to values.

h = {a:1, b:2}
hp = h.to_proc
hp.call(:a)          #=> 1
hp.call(:b)          #=> 2
hp.call(:c)          #=> nil
[:a, :b, :c].map(&h) #=> [1, 2, nil]

Returns a new hash with the results of running the block once for every key. This method does not change the values.

h = { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3 }
h.transform_keys {|k| k.to_s }  #=> { "a" => 1, "b" => 2, "c" => 3 }
h.transform_keys(&:to_s)        #=> { "a" => 1, "b" => 2, "c" => 3 }
h.transform_keys.with_index {|k, i| "#{k}.#{i}" }
                                #=> { "a.0" => 1, "b.1" => 2, "c.2" => 3 }

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

Invokes the given block once for each key in hsh, replacing it with the new key returned by the block, and then returns hsh. This method does not change the values.

h = { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3 }
h.transform_keys! {|k| k.to_s }  #=> { "a" => 1, "b" => 2, "c" => 3 }
h.transform_keys!(&:to_sym)      #=> { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3 }
h.transform_keys!.with_index {|k, i| "#{k}.#{i}" }
                                 #=> { "a.0" => 1, "b.1" => 2, "c.2" => 3 }

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

Returns a new hash with the results of running the block once for every value. This method does not change the keys.

h = { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3 }
h.transform_values {|v| v * v + 1 }  #=> { a: 2, b: 5, c: 10 }
h.transform_values(&:to_s)           #=> { a: "1", b: "2", c: "3" }
h.transform_values.with_index {|v, i| "#{v}.#{i}" }
                                     #=> { a: "1.0", b: "2.1", c: "3.2" }

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

Invokes the given block once for each value in hsh, replacing it with the new value returned by the block, and then returns hsh. This method does not change the keys.

h = { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3 }
h.transform_values! {|v| v * v + 1 }  #=> { a: 2, b: 5, c: 10 }
h.transform_values!(&:to_s)           #=> { a: "2", b: "5", c: "10" }
h.transform_values!.with_index {|v, i| "#{v}.#{i}" }
                                      #=> { a: "2.0", b: "5.1", c: "10.2" }

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

Adds the contents of the given hashes to the receiver.

If no block is given, entries with duplicate keys are overwritten with the values from each other_hash successively, otherwise the value for each duplicate key is determined by calling the block with the key, its value in the receiver and its value in each other_hash.

h1 = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h1.merge!          #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200}
h1                 #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200}

h1 = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h2 = { "b" => 246, "c" => 300 }
h1.merge!(h2)      #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>246, "c"=>300}
h1                 #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>246, "c"=>300}

h1 = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h2 = { "b" => 246, "c" => 300 }
h3 = { "b" => 357, "d" => 400 }
h1.merge!(h2, h3)
                   #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>357, "c"=>300, "d"=>400}
h1                 #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>357, "c"=>300, "d"=>400}

h1 = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200 }
h2 = { "b" => 246, "c" => 300 }
h3 = { "b" => 357, "d" => 400 }
h1.merge!(h2, h3) {|key, v1, v2| v1 }
                   #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200, "c"=>300, "d"=>400}
h1                 #=> {"a"=>100, "b"=>200, "c"=>300, "d"=>400}

Hash#update is an alias for Hash#merge!.

Returns a new array populated with the values from hsh. See also Hash#keys.

h = { "a" => 100, "b" => 200, "c" => 300 }
h.values   #=> [100, 200, 300]

Return an array containing the values associated with the given keys. Also see Hash.select.

h = { "cat" => "feline", "dog" => "canine", "cow" => "bovine" }
h.values_at("cow", "cat")  #=> ["bovine", "feline"]