Hash Literals in Ruby 3.1

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:21:34 +0000

Starting with Ruby 3.1, you can omit values in hash literals, meaning you can write:

a = 'some value'
b = 'other value'
h = { a:, b: }

In my opinion, this is one of the coolest syntax features, and I use it all the time when building apps. However, I almost always catch myself asking: should you always name block variables to match the hash key?

# 1.
1.upto(10).each do |value|
  hash = { value: }
  # other code
end

# 2.
1.upto(10).each do |i|
  hash = { value: i }
  # other code
end

Have you ever thought about this trade-off? Which style do you prefer?

Omit on Artem Yegorov

Hash Literals in Ruby 3.1