Ruby Hash: Convert String keys to Symbols

Ever had a hash which contained strings as keys and needed symbols instead? I do: From a REXML::Document I created a hash. Unfortunately, the keys were all strings and I needed them to be symbols at some other point in the app. Thank god, Ruby is capable of extending any object “on the fly”. So, I wrote a simple extension to Hash, which you might find useful as well:

class Hash
  #take keys of hash and transform those to a symbols
  def self.transform_keys_to_symbols(value)
    return value if not value.is_a?(Hash)
    hash = value.inject({}){|memo,(k,v)| memo[k.to_sym] = Hash.transform_keys_to_symbols(v); memo}
    return hash
  end
end

Usage is:

a = { "key" => 123, "inner_hash" => { "another_key" => "blabla" }}
Hash.transform_keys_to_symbols(a)
#returns
a = { :key => 123, :inner_hash => { :another_key => "blabla" }}

7 Replies to “Ruby Hash: Convert String keys to Symbols”

  1. You have a spelling error at Hash.transform_keys_to_symbol(v);

  2. I know this was a long time ago, but refactored:

    class Hash
    #take keys of hash and transform those to a symbols
    def self.transform_keys_to_symbols(value)
    return value unless value.is_a?(Hash)
    value.inject({}){|memo,(k,v)| memo[k.to_sym] = Hash.transform_keys_to_symbols(v); memo}
    end
    end

  3. this will handle nested objects, but not a nested array of objects.

  4. This should handle nested objects if they are arrays. I also put it in its own function instead of extending or monkey patching the Hash object.

    def transform_keys_to_symbols(value)
    if value.is_a?(Array)
    array = value.map{|x| x.is_a?(Hash) || x.is_a?(Array) ? transform_keys_to_symbols(x) : x}
    return array
    end
    if value.is_a?(Hash)
    hash = value.inject({}){|memo,(k,v)| memo[k.to_sym] = transform_keys_to_symbols(v); memo}
    return hash
    end
    return value
    end

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