# Params hash

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [December 5, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401 "2006-12-05T16:43:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swanand_deodhar)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401/1 "2006-12-05T16:43:33Z")

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Hi!  
When i am submitting a form, i cannot use params. It is not a hash but  
HashWithIndifferentAccess. Wots this?  
Regards,  
Swanand

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**Author:** ![swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swanand_deodhar)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401/2 "2006-12-05T17:22:50Z")

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swanand deodhar wrote:

> Hi!  
> When i am submitting a form, i cannot use params. It is not a hash but  
> HashWithIndifferentAccess. Wots this?  
> Regards,  
> Swanand

Hi have you tried Google at all ? It often has the answer to many  
questions.

[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=HashWithIndifferentAccess](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=HashWithIndifferentAccess)

“this class has dubious semantics and we only have it so that people can  
write params[:key] instead of params[‘key’]”

It allows indexing by symbol or string.

What do you mean “i cannot use params” ?

A.

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**Author:** ![swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swanand_deodhar)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401/3 "2006-12-05T17:53:54Z")

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Whne i write params[:some\_symbol] after the form submission where  
some\_symbol is some text field in the form, it shows a nil object  
Regards,  
Swanand

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**Author:** ![swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swanand_deodhar)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401/4 "2006-12-05T17:31:48Z")

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HashWithIndifferentAccess is simply a Rails modification to Hash to  
allow:

hash[‘key’] == hash[:key]

In Ruby’s native Hash, the above would be false.

What is your problem with @params?

Jason

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swanand_deodhar)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401/5 "2006-12-05T18:02:00Z")

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Thnx for the lead.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swanand_deodhar)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401/6 "2006-12-05T18:32:11Z")

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Hi,

2006/12/5, swanand deodhar [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> Hi!  
> When i am submitting a form, i cannot use params. It is not a hash but  
> HashWithIndifferentAccess. Wots this?

I suggest you look at your log/development.log file. You’ll see the  
full params hash values in there.

## Bye !

François Beausoleil  
[http://blog.teksol.info/](http://blog.teksol.info/)  
[http://piston.rubyforge.org/](http://piston.rubyforge.org/)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@swanand\_deodhar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swanand_deodhar)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/params-hash/78401/7 "2006-12-05T23:43:03Z")

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On 12/6/06, swanand deodhar [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Whne i write params[:some\_symbol] after the form submission where  
> some\_symbol is some text field in the form, it shows a nil object  
> Regards,  
> Swanand

Check the html code for the form field. the :some\_symbol part must  
match the “name” atribute of the form field. Parameters can be nested:

params[:my\_field] params[:my\_model][:my\_field]

Cheers,  
Max