why there is a column ":" in front of key in ruby

Question

aaa = { :one => "eins", :two => "zwei", :three => "drei" }
bbb = { one: "eins", two: "zwei", three: "drei" }

above are valid ruby code. at line 1, why there is ":" before "one"? What's the meaning?

https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.0/Hash.html, https://ruby-doc.org/core-3.0.0/Symbol.html — axiac, Mar 06 '21 at 15:40
Also [**Is there any difference between the `:key => “value”` and `key: “value”` hash notations?**](https://stackoverflow.com/q/8675206/479863) — mu is too short, Mar 06 '21 at 17:38

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 06 '21 at 15:59

1

It's called Symbol, you could think of it as a special string. Symbols are often used as hash keys.

You could check out more on Ruby Symbols vs. Strings

answered Mar 06 '21 at 15:59

eux

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 06 '21 at 18:33

0

In ruby hash is an association of key and value.

my_hash = { :key => "value" }

or

my_hash = { key: "value" }

answered Mar 06 '21 at 18:33

ffouquet42

2 Answers2