Hashes in Ruby programming language

This part of the Ruby tutorial will mention Ruby hashes. A hash is a collection of key-value pairs. It is similar to an array. Unlike arrays, hashes can have arbitrary objects as indexes. Arrays have can only have integers. Hashes are sometimes called associated arrays.
Hashes are powerful collections. They have many methods that programmers can use to do their work.

Hash creation

A hash can be created in two basic ways. Either with the new keyword or by utilizing the hash literal.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

names = Hash.new
names[1] = "Jane"
names[2] = "Thomas"

puts names

The first script creates a hash and adds two key-value pairs into the hash object.

names = Hash.new

A hash object is created.

names[1] = "Jane"
names[2] = "Thomas"

We add two pairs of values to the hash. The 1, 2 numbers are the keys to the hash. The keys are placed inside the square brackets. The names are the values that belong to the keys.

puts names

The puts method prints the string representation of the hash to the console. It is also the string literal of the hash.

$ ./create.rb
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas"}

From the output we can see the literal representation of the names hash. A hash is bouded by curly brackets. The keys and the values are paired with the => characters.

---

A store method can be used to initialize the hash with some values. It can be use instead of the square brackets.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

names = Hash.new
names.store(1, "Jane")
names.store(2, "Thomas")
names.store(3, "Rebecca")

puts names

We have a similar script. This time we use the storemethod. The method associates the given key with the given value and stores the pair in the hash.

names.store(1, "Jane")

The first parameter of the store method is the key and the second parameter is the value.

---

In the third script, we create a hash with the hash literal notation. The values are bound by the curly brackets. And the key-value pairs are associated with the => characters.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

domains = { "de" => "Germany",
            "sk" => "Slovakia",
            "hu" => "Hungary",
            "us" => "United States",
            "no" => "Norway"                       
          }

puts domains["de"]
puts domains["sk"]

We create a domains hash with 5 pairs. This time both keys and values are string types.

domains = { "de" => "Germany",
            "sk" => "Slovakia",
            "hu" => "Hungary",
            "us" => "United States",
            "no" => "Norway"                       
          }

This is a hash literal notation. The key-value pairs are put between the curly brackets. The items are separated by the comma character. And the keys are associated with values using the => characters combination.

puts domains["de"]

Here we print the domain value name associated with the "de" key.

$ ./create3.rb 
Germany
Slovakia

Output of the code example.

Basic work

In this section, we will present some methods for the very basic work with Ruby hashes.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

names = Hash.new

names[1] = "Jane"
names[2] = "Thomas"
names[3] = "Robert"
names[4] = "Julia"
names[5] = "Rebecca"

puts "The size of the hash is #{names.size}"

puts names.keys.inspect
puts names.values.inspect

In the above Ruby script, we create a hash with five values. We introduce three hash methods.

puts "The size of the hash is #{names.size}"

The size method returns the size of the hash. It is a synonym for the length method.

puts names.keys.inspect
puts names.values.inspect

The keys method returns all keys of the hash. In a similar fashion, the values method returns all the values of the hash. The returned data is in the form of an array. To have a more readable output, we also call the inspect method on the returned arrays.

$ ./basic.rb
The size of the hash is 5
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
["Jane", "Thomas", "Robert", "Julia", "Rebecca"]

Ouput of the example. Note that the output of the last two methods are two arrays.

---

The second example of the section presents three distinct hash methods.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

names1 = Hash.new

names1[1] = "Jane"
names1[2] = "Thomas"
names1[3] = "Robert"
names1[4] = "Julia"
names1[5] = "Rebecca"

names2 = names1.dup

puts names1.eql? names2

puts names1.empty?
names1.clear
puts names1.empty?

The Ruby script creates a names hash. It calls three hash methods on the object.

names2 = names1.dup

We create a duplicate of the hash by calling the dupmethod. The method is inherited by the hash from the parent object.

puts names1.eql? names2

The eql? method compares two hash objects. In our case the hashes are equal and the line prints true.

puts names1.empty?

The empty? method checks whether the hash is empty or not. The line print false. Because the names1 hash has five items.

names1.clear
puts names1.empty?

The clear method deletes all items from the hash. The successive call of the empty? method returns true.

$ ./basic2.rb
true
false
true

Example output.

---

We have methods that can determine, whether a key or a value is present in the hash.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

domains = { :de => "Germany", :sk => "Slovakia",
            :no => "Norway", :us => "United States"
          }

puts domains.has_key? :de
puts domains.include? :no
puts domains.key? :me
puts domains.member? :sk

puts domains.has_value? "Slovakia"
puts domains.value? "Germany"

We create a domains hash with four pairs. The keys are symbols. Symbols are often used as keys, because they are more efficient.

puts domains.has_key? :de
puts domains.include? :no
puts domains.key? :me
puts domains.member? :sk

Here we have four methods that determine, whether a key is in the hash. They all do the same; they are synonyms.

puts domains.has_value? "Slovakia"
puts domains.value? "Germany"

These two methods check if the two strings are inside the hash.

$ ./has.rb
true
true
false
true
true
true

This is the output of the example.

---

In the final example of the section, we will read values from the hash.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

stones = { 1 => "garnet", 2 => "topaz", 
           3 => "opal", 4 => "amethyst"
         }

puts stones.fetch 1
puts stones[2]
puts stones.values_at 1, 2, 3

The Ruby script presents three hash methods for reading values of a hash.

puts stones.fetch 1

The fetch method reads a value for a given key.

puts stones[2]

Square brackets can be used to get a value. In our case, the line prints "topaz" to the console.

puts stones.values_at 1, 2, 3

The values_at method can be used to get multiple values at one step. The method returns an array of the values for the given keys.

$ ./read.rb
garnet
topaz
garnet
topaz
opal

Output of the example.

Looping through a hash

There are several methods that can be used to loop through a Ruby hash.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

stones = { 1 => "garnet", 2 => "topaz", 
           3 => "opal", 4 => "amethyst"
         }

stones.each { |k, v| puts "Key: #{k}, Value: #{v}" }
stones.each_key { |key| puts "#{key}" }
stones.each_value { |val| puts "#{val}" }
stones.each_pair { |k, v| puts "Key: #{k}, Value: #{v}" }

In the above example, we present four methods. We use them to display all keys, values and both keys and values of a hash.

stones.each { |k, v| puts "Key: #{k}, Value: #{v}" }

The each method calls the given block for each key in the hash, passing key-value pair as parameter.

stones.each_key { |key| puts "#{key}" }

We use the each_key method to loop throug all keys of a hash. They are printed to the console.

stones.each_value { |val| puts "#{val}" }

The each_value can be used to loop throug the values of a hash.

stones.each_pair { |k, v| puts "Key: #{k}, Value: #{v}" }

The each_pair method is a synonym for the each method. We loop through the keys and values of the stones hash.

$ ./loop.rb
Key: 1, Value: garnet
Key: 2, Value: topaz
Key: 3, Value: opal
Key: 4, Value: amethyst
1
2
3
4
garnet
topaz
opal
amethyst
Key: 1, Value: garnet
Key: 2, Value: topaz
Key: 3, Value: opal
Key: 4, Value: amethyst

The output shows the keys and values, keys, values of the stones hash.

Deleting pairs

In the following examples, we will concern ourselves with methods that delete pairs from the hashes. There are methods that delete only a pair at a time and methods, that can delete multiple key-values at one step.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

names = Hash.new

names[1] = "Jane"
names[2] = "Thomas"
names[3] = "Robert"
names[4] = "Julia"
names[5] = "Rebecca"

names.delete 4
names.shift

puts names

In the script we have two methods. The delete method and the shift method. The delete method removes and returns a value for a specified key. The shiftmethod deletes the first pair from the hash. It also returns the removed pair as an array.

names.delete 4

Here we delete a pair 4 => "Julia".

names.shift

This code line removes the first pair, namely 1 => "Jane".

$ ./deleteitem.rb
{2=>"Thomas", 3=>"Robert", 5=>"Rebecca"}

In the output we can see the pairs of the hash that are left.

---

The reject and the delete_if methods can remove multiple pairs from a hash. The methods delete pairs that return true for the given condition in the block. There is an important distinction between the two methods. The reject method works on a copy of a hash while the delete_if works on the original hash.

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby

names1 = Hash.new

names1[1] = "Jane"
names1[2] = "Thomas"
names1[3] = "Robert"
names1[4] = "Julia"
names1[5] = "Rebecca"

puts names1.reject { |k, v| v =~ /R.*/ }
puts names1
puts names1.delete_if { |k, v| k<=3 }
puts names1

The example deletes multiple pairs using the previously mentioned methods.

puts names1.reject { |k, v| v =~ /R.*/ }

The reject method removes all values that fit the regular expression in the block. The modified hash is returned and the original hash is not changed.

puts names1

The output of this line confirms, that the original hash was intact.

puts names1.delete_if { |k, v| k<=3 }

In this case, we delete all pairs, for which the key is lower or equal to 3. The method modifies the original hash.

$ ./massdelete.rb 
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas", 4=>"Julia"}
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas", 3=>"Robert", 4=>"Julia", 5=>"Rebecca"}
{4=>"Julia", 5=>"Rebecca"}
{4=>"Julia", 5=>"Rebecca"}

Output of the example.

Adding hashes

Ruby has methods for hash addition. The merge and the update methods.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

names1 = Hash.new

names1[1] = "Jane"
names1[2] = "Thomas"

names2 = Hash.new

names2[3] = "Robert"
names2[4] = "Julia"

names = names1.merge names2
puts names

names = names1.update names2
puts names

In the Ruby script, we create two hashes. Then we apply merge and update methods on them.

names = names1.merge names2
puts names

We add two hashes, the names1 and the names2 and the result is assigned to the names hash. We print the newly created hash.

$ ./merge.rb
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas", 3=>"Robert", 4=>"Julia"}
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas", 3=>"Robert", 4=>"Julia"}

As we can see, the final hashes contain pairs from the names1 and names2 hashes.

The merge vs merge!

In the final section, we recap a common ruby thing. Several methods have their counterparts, that end with an explamation mark. The mark has no syntactical meaning. It is a Ruby idiom. It hints a programmer, that the method will actually modify an object, on which the method is called.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

names1 = Hash.new

names1[1] = "Jane"
names1[2] = "Thomas"

names2 = Hash.new

names2[3] = "Robert"
names2[4] = "Julia"

names = names1.merge names2
puts names
puts names1

names = names1.merge! names2
puts names
puts names1

We will demonstrate the difference on the merge and merge! methods.

names = names1.merge names2

The merge does not modify the names1 hash. It works on its copy.

names = names1.merge! names2

The merge! method works on the original hash. The names1 hash is changed.

$ ./merge2.rb
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas", 3=>"Robert", 4=>"Julia"}
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas"}
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas", 3=>"Robert", 4=>"Julia"}
{1=>"Jane", 2=>"Thomas", 3=>"Robert", 4=>"Julia"}

Output.
In this chapter, we worked with Ruby hashes.