What's the difference between colon “:” and fat arrow “=>” [duplicate]

Question

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Is there any difference between the `:key => “value”` and `key: “value”` hash notations? (5 answers)

Closed 7 years ago.

What's the difference between colon : and fat arrow => in Ruby? Or when to use what?

:foo => true
foo: true

Answer 1

The syntax is for defining Hash key/value pairs, and the difference depends on the Ruby version.

Supported in both Ruby 1.8 and Ruby 1.9

:foo => true

Supported only in Ruby 1.9

foo: true

If you're developing in Ruby 1.9 you should probably use the syntax:

foo: true

as it appears to be the direction the community is moving in.

Answer 2

The latter is the new Hash syntax introduced in 1.9. See, for example:

http://breakthebit.org/post/8453341914/ruby-1-9-and-the-new-hash-syntax

The hashes that the two lines generate are identical.