How to create Hash with string keys by default

ruby, ruby-on-rails, string, symbols, syntax

Solution

Use hash rocket syntax:

h = { "a" => 123 }
#=> {"a"=>123}
h['a']
#=> 123

Problem

When I do the following: ``` h = { "a": 123 } ``` Ruby converts the key to a symbol automatically. ``` h[:a] # => 123 h["a"] # => nil ``` How can I prevent this behaviour? I created the hash with a string key, and would like to keep it that way without always having to call `Hash#stringify_keys`.

Original source