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Ruby Ruby Collections Ruby Hashes Working with Hash Keys

Joshua Goss
Joshua Goss
5,714 Points
Posted by Joshua Goss
Joshua Goss
5,714 Points

How to use has_key within an if statement?

Not sure what I am missing here. It's a syntax error; unexpected '=', expecting ';''

hash.rb 
hash = { "name" => "Bread", "quantity" => 1, "calories" => 100 }


 if hash.key?("calories") {
   def food = true
 }

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,261 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,261 Points

You don't need an "if" here, and "food" doesn't need a "def". It is a variable just like hash is, with a value of true if "calories" is found and false otherwise. Since hash.has_key?("calories") returns true or false based on if "calories" is found, the result can be directly assigned to food:

food = hash.has_key?("calories")
Joshua Goss
Joshua Goss
5,714 Points
Joshua Goss
Joshua Goss
5,714 Points

Ohhh okay, thank you! I understand, since .has_key is going to resolve to true, food will be defined as such.