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Maintenance Ruby 3.3 gets fixes, but no new features. Switch to Ruby 4.0 →

instance method

Hash#merge!

hash.merge! → self
hash.merge!(*other_hashes) → self
hash.merge!(*other_hashes) { |key, old_value, new_value| ... } → self

Alias of #update

Merges each of other_hashes into self; returns self.

Each argument in other_hashes must be a Hash.

With arguments and no block:

  • Returns self, after the given hashes are merged into it.

  • The given hashes are merged left to right.

  • Each new entry is added at the end.

  • Each duplicate-key entry’s value overwrites the previous value.

Example:

Example
h = {foo: 0, bar: 1, baz: 2}
h1 = {bat: 3, bar: 4}
h2 = {bam: 5, bat:6}
h.merge!(h1, h2) # => {:foo=>0, :bar=>4, :baz=>2, :bat=>6, :bam=>5}

With arguments and a block:

  • Returns self, after the given hashes are merged.

  • The given hashes are merged left to right.

  • Each new-key entry is added at the end.

  • For each duplicate key:

    • Calls the block with the key and the old and new values.

    • The block’s return value becomes the new value for the entry.

Example:

Example
h = {foo: 0, bar: 1, baz: 2}
h1 = {bat: 3, bar: 4}
h2 = {bam: 5, bat:6}
h3 = h.merge!(h1, h2) { |key, old_value, new_value| old_value + new_value }
h3 # => {:foo=>0, :bar=>5, :baz=>2, :bat=>9, :bam=>5}

With no arguments:

  • Returns self, unmodified.

  • The block, if given, is ignored.

Example:

Example
h = {foo: 0, bar: 1, baz: 2}
h.merge # => {:foo=>0, :bar=>1, :baz=>2}
h1 = h.merge! { |key, old_value, new_value| raise 'Cannot happen' }
h1 # => {:foo=>0, :bar=>1, :baz=>2}
See also #update #merge #rassoc #member? also in 4.1 · 4.0 · 3.4 · 3.2 · 3.1 · 3.0