- Ruby - Exceptions
- Ruby - File I/O
- Ruby - Iterators
- Ruby - Ranges
- Ruby - Date & Time
- Ruby - Hashes
- Ruby - Arrays
- Ruby - Strings
- Ruby - Modules
- Ruby - Blocks
- Ruby - Methods
- Ruby - Loops
- Ruby - IF...ELSE
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- Ruby - Operators
- Ruby - Variables
- Ruby - Classes and Objects
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- Ruby - Socket Programming
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Ruby - Hashes
A Hash is a collection of key-value pairs pke this: "employee" = > "salary". It is similar to an Array, except that indexing is done via arbitrary keys of any object type, not an integer index.
The order in which you traverse a hash by either key or value may seem arbitrary and will generally not be in the insertion order. If you attempt to access a hash with a key that does not exist, the method will return nil.
Creating Hashes
As with arrays, there is a variety of ways to create hashes. You can create an empty hash with the new class method −
months = Hash.new
You can also use new to create a hash with a default value, which is otherwise just nil −
months = Hash.new( "month" ) or months = Hash.new "month"
When you access any key in a hash that has a default value, if the key or value doesn t exist, accessing the hash will return the default value −
#!/usr/bin/ruby months = Hash.new( "month" ) puts "#{months[0]}" puts "#{months[72]}"
This will produce the following result −
month month
#!/usr/bin/ruby H = Hash["a" => 100, "b" => 200] puts "#{H[ a ]}" puts "#{H[ b ]}"
This will produce the following result −
100 200
You can use any Ruby object as a key or value, even an array, so the following example is a vapd one −
[1,"jan"] => "January"
Hash Built-in Methods
We need to have an instance of Hash object to call a Hash method. As we have seen, following is the way to create an instance of Hash object −
Hash[[key =>|, value]* ] or Hash.new [or] Hash.new(obj) [or] Hash.new { |hash, key| block }
This will return a new hash populated with the given objects. Now using the created object, we can call any available instance methods. For example −
#!/usr/bin/ruby $, = ", " months = Hash.new( "month" ) months = {"1" => "January", "2" => "February"} keys = months.keys puts "#{keys}"
This will produce the following result −
["1", "2"]
Following are the pubpc hash methods (assuming hash is an array object) −
Sr.No. | Methods & Description |
---|---|
1 | hash == other_hash Tests whether two hashes are equal, based on whether they have the same number of key-value pairs, and whether the key-value pairs match the corresponding pair in each hash. |
2 | hash.[key] Using a key, references a value from hash. If the key is not found, returns a default value. |
3 | hash.[key] = value Associates the value given by value with the key given by key. |
4 | hash.clear Removes all key-value pairs from hash. |
5 | hash.default(key = nil) Returns the default value for hash, nil if not set by default=. ([] returns a default value if the key does not exist in hash.) |
6 | hash.default = obj Sets a default value for hash. |
7 | hash.default_proc Returns a block if hash was created by a block. |
8 | hash.delete(key) [or] array.delete(key) { |key| block } Deletes a key-value pair from hash by key. If block is used, returns the result of a block if pair is not found. Compare delete_if. |
9 | hash.delete_if { |key,value| block } Deletes a key-value pair from hash for every pair the block evaluates to true. |
10 | hash.each { |key,value| block } Iterates over hash, calpng the block once for each key, passing the key-value as a two-element array. |
11 | hash.each_key { |key| block } Iterates over hash, calpng the block once for each key, passing key as a parameter. |
12 | hash.each_key { |key_value_array| block } Iterates over hash, calpng the block once for each key, passing the key and value as parameters. |
13 | hash.each_key { |value| block } Iterates over hash, calpng the block once for each key, passing value as a parameter. |
14 | hash.empty? Tests whether hash is empty (contains no key-value pairs), returning true or false. |
15 | hash.fetch(key [, default] ) [or] hash.fetch(key) { | key | block } Returns a value from hash for the given key. If the key can t be found, and there are no other arguments, it raises an IndexError exception; if default is given, it is returned; if the optional block is specified, its result is returned. |
16 | hash.has_key?(key) [or] hash.include?(key) [or] hash.key?(key) [or] hash.member?(key) Tests whether a given key is present in hash, returning true or false. |
17 | hash.has_value?(value) Tests whether hash contains the given value. |
18 | hash.index(value) Returns the key for the given value in hash, nil if no matching value is found. |
19 | hash.indexes(keys) Returns a new array consisting of values for the given key(s). Will insert the default value for keys that are not found. This method is deprecated. Use select. |
20 | hash.indices(keys) Returns a new array consisting of values for the given key(s). Will insert the default value for keys that are not found. This method is deprecated. Use select. |
21 | hash.inspect Returns a pretty print string version of hash. |
22 | hash.invert Creates a new hash, inverting keys and values from hash; that is, in the new hash, the keys from hash become values and values become keys. |
23 | hash.keys Creates a new array with keys from hash. |
24 | hash.length Returns the size or length of hash as an integer. |
25 | hash.merge(other_hash) [or] hash.merge(other_hash) { |key, oldval, newval| block } Returns a new hash containing the contents of hash and other_hash, overwriting pairs in hash with duppcate keys with those from other_hash. |
26 | hash.merge!(other_hash) [or] hash.merge!(other_hash) { |key, oldval, newval| block } Same as merge, but changes are done in place. |
27 | hash.rehash Rebuilds hash based on the current values for each key. If values have changed since they were inserted, this method reindexes hash. |
28 | hash.reject { |key, value| block } Creates a new hash for every pair the block evaluates to true |
29 | hash.reject! { |key, value| block } Same as reject, but changes are made in place. |
30 | hash.replace(other_hash) Replaces the contents of hash with the contents of other_hash. |
31 | hash.select { |key, value| block } Returns a new array consisting of key-value pairs from hash for which the block returns true. |
32 | hash.shift Removes a key-value pair from hash, returning it as a two-element array. |
33 | hash.size Returns the size or length of hash as an integer. |
34 | hash.sort Converts hash to a two-dimensional array containing arrays of key-value pairs, then sorts it as an array. |
35 | hash.store(key, value) Stores a key-value pair in hash. |
36 | hash.to_a Creates a two-dimensional array from hash. Each key/value pair is converted to an array, and all these arrays are stored in a containing array. |
37 | hash.to_hash Returns hash (self). |
38 | hash.to_s Converts hash to an array, then converts that array to a string. |
39 | hash.update(other_hash) [or] hash.update(other_hash) {|key, oldval, newval| block} Returns a new hash containing the contents of hash and other_hash, overwriting pairs in hash with duppcate keys with those from other_hash. |
40 | hash.value?(value) Tests whether hash contains the given value. |
41 | hash.values Returns a new array containing all the values of hash. |
42 | hash.values_at(obj, ...) Returns a new array containing the values from hash that are associated with the given key or keys. |