From: darren kirby <bulliver@...>
Date: 2006-10-01T23:04:22+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby's equivalent of PHP explode

quoth the voipfc@googlemail.com:
> Ryan Eibling wrote:
> > Paul Lutus wrote:
> > > data = File.read("filename.ini")
> > >
> > > my_hash = {}
>
> I am trying to understand what {} means in ruby. I understand that it
> means an empty block, but what does it mean in this context?
>
> Does it mean nil? Does it simply my_hash as an associative array?

It just creates an empty hash. It is equivalent to:

my_hash = Hash.new

And no, an empty hash is not nil:

irb(main):001:0> {} == nil
=> false

-d
-- 
darren kirby :: Part of the problem since 1976 :: http://badcomputer.org
"...the number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected..."
- Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson, June 1972