# Is there any standard package to dump to ruby data structures **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 4, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856 "2008-04-04T13:10:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856/1 "2008-04-04T13:10:57Z")
Is there any standard package to dump ruby data structures into a string/stream? which can be eval’d back in ruby script. something like perl’s Data::Dumper? ---
**Author:** ![adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856/2 "2008-04-04T13:23:27Z")
On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM, adm [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Is there any standard package to dump ruby data structures into a > string/stream? which can be eval’d back in ruby script. something like > perl’s Data::Dumper? You may want to look at YAML or Marshall; they are not quite what you’re describing, but may fill the need you’re thinking about. I don’t know of anything that outputs code for eval. Eivind. ---
**Author:** ![adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856/3 "2008-04-04T13:25:13Z")
On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM, adm [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Is there any standard package to dump ruby data structures into a > string/stream? which can be eval’d back in ruby script. something like > perl’s Data::Dumper? Marshal - faster; shorter binary data YAML - slower, human readable/editable data ---
**Author:** ![adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856/4 "2008-04-04T13:32:19Z")
You could use Marshal see : Marshal.dump & Marshal.load ---
**Author:** ![adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856/5 "2008-04-04T15:46:07Z")
On Apr 4, 4:24 pm, Jano S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM, adm [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > Is there any standard package to dump ruby data structures into a > > string/stream? which can be eval’d back in ruby script. something like > > perl’s Data::Dumper? > > Marshal - faster; shorter binary data > YAML - slower, human readable/editable data Yes, I can use Marshal. Thank you guys. ---
**Author:** ![adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856/6 "2008-04-04T17:18:25Z")
adm wrote: > On Apr 4, 4:24 pm, Jano S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM, adm [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > > Is there any standard package to dump ruby data structures into a > > > string/stream? which can be eval’d back in ruby script. something like > > > perl’s Data::Dumper? > > > Marshal - faster; shorter binary data > > > Ruby-specific format > > > YAML - slower, human readable/editable data > > > Language-independent format ---
**Author:** ![adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856/7 "2008-04-04T18:18:50Z")
adm wrote: > Is there any standard package to dump ruby data structures into a > string/stream? which can be eval’d back in ruby script. something like > perl’s Data::Dumper? In addition to the other suggestions of Marshal and YAML you can also use ‘pp’ on data objects. irb(main):002:0\> require ‘pp’ =\> true irb(main):003:0\> pp x “foo” irb(main):007:0\> pp y [1, nil, 3] irb(main):012:0\> pp z {“three”=\>3, “two”=\>2, “one”=\>1} Bob ---
**Author:** ![adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@adm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-any-standard-package-to-dump-to-ruby-data-structures/133856/8 "2008-04-04T20:57:05Z")
adm wrote: > Is there any standard package to dump ruby data structures into a > string/stream? which can be eval’d back in ruby script. something like > perl’s Data::Dumper? Probably, the other answers are more helpful, but if you really want to dump to ruby code that can be eval-ed back to get the objects, there is amarshal: [http://www.a-k-r.org/amarshal](http://www.a-k-r.org/amarshal)