Initialise Ruby hashes with multiple levels of default values

gem install hash-initializer

Or add to your Gemfile and go forth.

my_hash = HashInitializer[0]

my_hash[:foo]  # => 0
my_hash[:foo] += 1
my_hash[:foo]  # => 1
my_hash[:bar]  # => 0

my_hash = HashInitializer[:hash]

my_hash[:foo]  # => {}
my_hash[:foo][:bar]  # => nil
my_hash[:foo][:bar] = 'a'
my_hash[:foo][:bar]  # 'a'

my_hash = HashInitializer[:array]

my_hash[:foo]  # => []
my_hash[:foo] << 'a'
my_hash[:foo]  # ['a']

my_hash = HashInitializer[[]]

my_hash[:foo]  # => []
my_hash[:bar]  # => []
my_hash[:foo] << 'a'
my_hash[:foo]  # ['a']
my_hash[:bar]  # ['a']
my_hash[:foo].equal?(my_hash[:bar])  # true

my_hash = HashInitializer[{}]

my_hash[:foo]  # {}
my_hash[:foo][:bar] = 1
my_hash[:foo][:bar]  # => 1
my_hash[:bob]  # => { bar: 1 }
my_hash[:foo].equal?(my_hash[:bob])  # true

my_hash = HashInitializer[
  :hash,
    :hash,
      1.0
]

my_hash[:foo][:bar][:baz]  # => 1.0
my_hash[:foo][:bar][:baz] += 1.5
my_hash[:foo][:bar][:baz]  # => 2.5

Use with consideration! Great for temporary data (e.g. whilst processing), or for playing around. But for anything more substantial consider building a proper model layer with first class objects / structs.

• Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn't been implemented or the bug hasn't been fixed yet.
• Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn't requested it and/or contributed it.
• Fork the project.
• Start a feature/bugfix branch.
• Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution.
• Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
• Please try not to mess with the Rakefile, version, or history. If you want to have your own version, or is otherwise necessary, that is fine, but please isolate to its own commit so I can cherry-pick around it.

Copyright (c) 2018 Jits. See LICENSE.txt for further details.