Ruby Convert Array to Hash

1. Introduction

In Ruby, arrays and hashes are both integral collection types used widely. An array is an ordered list, while a hash is a collection of key-value pairs. There may be situations where you need to convert an array into a hash. For example, you might want to do this to take advantage of the fast lookup times that hashes provide. This blog post will guide you through converting an array into a hash in Ruby.

2. Program Steps

1. Define the array to be converted into a hash.

2. Choose the method of conversion based on the array structure.

3. Convert the array to a hash.

4. Output the resulting hash.

3. Code Program

# Step 1: Define the array
array = [['key1', 'value1'], ['key2', 'value2'], ['key3', 'value3']]
# Step 2: The method of conversion will be direct as the array consists of nested arrays with 2 elements
# each that can directly translate to key-value pairs
# Step 3: Convert the array to a hash
hash = array.to_h
# Step 4: Output the resulting hash
puts hash.inspect

Output:

{"key1"=>"value1", "key2"=>"value2", "key3"=>"value3"}

Explanation:

1. array is the array of nested arrays, where each nested array has two elements representing a key and a value.

2. Since the array is already structured in a way that it can be directly converted to a hash, no additional steps are needed for the conversion.

3. array.to_h is the Ruby method that converts an array of nested arrays into a hash.

4. puts hash.inspect is used to output the string representation of the hash, showing its contents.