From: Daniel Berger <djberg96@...>
Date: 2010-10-16T22:16:26+09:00
Subject: Accessing a hash value by string or symbol in C

I think the issue of string vs symbol hash access came up recently. 
Here's a function I use I thought I'd share for C extension writers:

/* Example:
  *
  *   # Equivalent to hash['alpha'] || hash[:alpha]
  *   rb_hash_aref2(v_hash, "alpha")
  *
  * Returns nil if neither is found.
  */
static VALUE rb_hash_aref2(VALUE v_hash, char* key){
   VALUE v_key, v_val;

   v_key = rb_str_new2(key);
   v_val = rb_hash_aref(v_hash, v_key);

   if(NIL_P(v_val))
     v_val = rb_hash_aref(v_hash, ID2SYM(rb_intern(key)));

   return v_val;
}

Regards,

Dan