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January 22, 2024 Ruby

Hashes in Ruby

What Are Hashes in Ruby?

When programming in Ruby, data structures are an integral part of the process. One of the most frequently used data structures is a Hash.

Simply put, a Hash in Ruby is a collection of key-value pairs. It works like an array but uses keys instead of index numbers. The order of items in a hash may seem arbitrary as it does not follow the insertion order.

How Does a Hash Work?

In order to use a hash, you need an instance of a Hash object. This object can then call on Hash methods to carry out various functions.

For instance, you can use a key to reference a value from the hash. If the key isn’t found, Ruby returns a default value. You can also delete a key-value pair from a hash using a method in Ruby.

Using Hashes

Hashes play an essential role when you need to pair specific selectors and values in your application efficiently. For example, storing employee information where the employee’s name (key) is connected to their salary (value).

Hashes vs. Arrays

As compared to arrays, hashes can be indexed with keys of any object type. This makes storing and retrieving data a more dynamic process. They share many similarities but are applied in different scenarios due to their ways of handling data.

Creating and Manipulating Hashes

Creating hashes in Ruby is quite straightforward. You can easily create a hash by using its implicit form: {'John' => 'Developer', 'Jane' => 'Designer'}.

Accessing Hash Content

You access the content of a hash using a specific key. For example, if you have a hash like this {:orange => 1, :apple => 2}, and you want to get the value for :apple, you would do hash[:apple] which would return 2. One big advantage of hashes is their data retrieval speed, which is very efficient if you know the key.

Modifying Hashes

Hashes in Ruby are highly modifiable. For instance, you can add or remove key-value pairs dynamically. Let’s say you had a hash hash = {:apple => 6} and you wanted to add a new pair, you could simply do hash[:orange] = 5.

Dealing With Duplicate Keys

Hashes don’t allow for duplicate keys. In case of a key duplication, the last value gets stored, and the earlier is discarded. This functionality can serve useful purposes when we need to update values associated with certain keys.

Merging Hashes

When working on larger projects, you may find that you need to combine two or more hashes. Fortunately, Ruby provides a handy method called merge for this purpose.

The merge Method

To merge two hashes, we use the merge method. For example, if we have two hashes: hash1 = {:apple => 6} and hash2 = {:orange => 7}, we can merge them like this: hash1.merge(hash2).

Handling Key Collisions

In the event that both hashes contain the same key, the value from the second hash overwrites the one from the first hash. This is because keys are unique in hashes. However, if you wish to control how values are chosen, the merge method also accepts a block where you can specify the conditions for merging.

Conclusion: The Utility of Hashes in Ruby

As you delve deeper into Ruby programming, you will find that hashes are invaluable for organizing data and improving your code’s proficiency. They offer quick data retrieval, diverse methods for manipulation, and the capacity to handle complex data structures, which would be more difficult with other data types. Therefore, understanding how to work with hashes is key to writing efficient Ruby code.

Now that we’ve covered arrays previously and hashes presently, you are well-equipped to handle data collection in Ruby. Up next, we will learn about control flow in Ruby.

For more practical examples and deeper insights about Hashes in Ruby and their applications, check out Ruby’s official documentation.

Previous Article: Understanding Arrays in Ruby

Benji
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