Best way to convert strings to symbols in hash

Here's a better method, if you're using Rails:

params.symbolize_keys

The end.

If you're not, just rip off their code (it's also in the link):

myhash.keys.each do |key|  myhash[(key.to_sym rescue key) || key] = myhash.delete(key)end

In Ruby >= 2.5 (docs) you can use:

my_hash.transform_keys(&:to_sym)

Using older Ruby version? Here is a one-liner that will copy the hash into a new one with the keys symbolized:

my_hash = my_hash.inject({}){|memo,(k,v)| memo[k.to_sym] = v; memo}

With Rails you can use:

my_hash.symbolize_keysmy_hash.deep_symbolize_keys 

For the specific case of YAML in Ruby, if the keys begin with ':', they will be automatically interned as symbols.

require 'yaml'require 'pp'yaml_str = "connections:  - host: host1.example.com    port: 10000  - host: host2.example.com    port: 20000"yaml_sym = ":connections:  - :host: host1.example.com    :port: 10000  - :host: host2.example.com    :port: 20000"pp yaml_str = YAML.load(yaml_str)puts yaml_str.keys.first.classpp yaml_sym = YAML.load(yaml_sym)puts yaml_sym.keys.first.class

Output:

#  /opt/ruby-1.8.6-p287/bin/ruby ~/test.rb{"connections"=>  [{"port"=>10000, "host"=>"host1.example.com"},   {"port"=>20000, "host"=>"host2.example.com"}]}String{:connections=>  [{:port=>10000, :host=>"host1.example.com"},   {:port=>20000, :host=>"host2.example.com"}]}Symbol