Concise Ruby hash equivalent of Python dict.get()
dictionary, hash, python, ruby
Solution
Yes, it is called `fetch`, and it can also take a block:
h.fetch(:x, 5)
h.fetch(:x) {|missing_key| "Unfortunately #{missing_key} is not available"}
Problem
In know that I can manipulate a Ruby default `Hash` value like this: ``` h={a:1, b:2, c:3} h[:x] # => nil h.default = 5 h[:x] # => 5 h.default = 8 h[:y] # => 8 ``` but this gets quite tedious when doing it repeatedly for multiple values with different defaults. It also could get dangerous if the hash is passed to other methods which want their own defaults for certain (potentially missing) keys. In Python, I used to ``` d={'a':1, 'b':2, 'c':3} d.get('x', 5) # => 5 d.get('y', 8) # => 8 ``` which doesn't have any side-effects. Is there an equivalent of this `get` method in Ruby?