How to access a hash within a hash in ruby?

#1

Simple question:

I know how to access a data field in a hash by doing
hash_name[datafield_name].

But what if the datafield itself is a hash? I tried a couple of
variations but nothing seems to be working and tutorials do not go into
such details.

Is there a simple way or should I create separate instances?

-Chris

#2

Chris Brown wrote:

Simple question:

I know how to access a data field in a hash by doing
hash_name[datafield_name].

But what if the datafield itself is a hash? I tried a couple of
variations but nothing seems to be working and tutorials do not go into
such details.

Is there a simple way or should I create separate instances?

-Chris

Hi,

you’re not saying what you tried and maybe I missed your point but:
h = {“h1” => {“h2” => “hello”}}
h[“h1”][“h2”]
gives “hello” :slight_smile:

–
Agnieszka

#3

Chris Brown wrote:

Simple question:

I know how to access a data field in a hash by doing
hash_name[datafield_name].

But what if the datafield itself is a hash?

hash_name[datafield_name][key_name]

-Brian

#4

Thanks, Agnieszka. I didn’t know I could do this but I’m not sure it
will work in my case. My_hash contains standard data of an RSS file:
channel_title, channel URl and items. Items contains: title, link,
author and description.

so My_hash[‘title’] returns the right RSS channel Title e.g. CNN To
stories

But how can I return only all the links? or only one description? I’m
not familiar with hashes so I’m confused.

My_hash[‘items’][link] does not work as you suggested below.

Figiel wrote:

Chris Brown wrote:

Simple question:

I know how to access a data field in a hash by doing
hash_name[datafield_name].

But what if the datafield itself is a hash? I tried a couple of
variations but nothing seems to be working and tutorials do not go into
such details.

Is there a simple way or should I create separate instances?

-Chris

Hi,

you’re not saying what you tried and maybe I missed your point but:
h = {“h1” => {“h2” => “hello”}}
h[“h1”][“h2”]
gives “hello” :slight_smile:

–
Agnieszka

#5

On Friday 31 Mar 2006 21:50, Chris Brown wrote:

My_hash[‘items’][link] does not work as you suggested below.

Try:

My_hash[‘items’][‘link’]

You missed the quotes on ‘link’…?

~Dave

–

Dave S.
Rent-A-Monkey Website Development
http://www.rentamonkey.com/

PGP Key: http://www.rentamonkey.com/pgpkey.asc

#6

Hi Chris,

Chris Brown wrote:

My_hash contains standard data of an RSS file:
channel_title, channel URl and items.
Items contains: title, link, author and description.

so My_hash[‘title’] returns the right RSS channel
Title e.g. CNN To stories

But how can I return only all the links? or only one
description? I’m not familiar with hashes so I’m confused.

I just had to work through this a week or so ago (accessing a hash of
hashes, not the RSS part) so I’ll pass along what I learned in the hope
it
will help.

In general, a hash is a set of (key, value) pairs. The value can be a
singleton value, another hash, an array… Those values can,
themselves, be
any of the same. To access a values in a multi-level hash, you iterate
through the levels. So conditionally accessing a hash of hashes looks
like…

level1.each do |level1_key, level1_value| # iterate through the top
level
set of pairs
if level1_key == what_you_want # test each key to see if
you
want to process it’s values
level1_value.each do |level2_key, level2_value| # if you do, and
it’s a
hash itself, iterate through it
if level2_key == another_thing_you_want # test each key to see if
…
level2_value.each do |level2_key, level3_value| # and so on
# and down you go…
end
end
end
end
end

HTH,
Bill

#7

Chris
> I’m not familiar with hashes so I’m confused.

When in doubt, I always :
1/ check the online doc:
http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Hash.html

2/ experiment on tryruby.
tryruby.hobix.com/

You should also master Array and Enumerable iterations methods (reject,
inject, collect, etc…)

Alain