Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Ruby Ruby Collections Ruby Hashes Working with Hash Keys

Joshua Goss
Joshua Goss
5,617 Points
Posted by Joshua Goss
Joshua Goss
5,617 Points

How to use has_key within an if statement?

Not sure what I am missing here. It's a syntax error; unexpected '=', expecting ';''

hash.rb 
hash = { "name" => "Bread", "quantity" => 1, "calories" => 100 }


 if hash.key?("calories") {
   def food = true
 }

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,644 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,644 Points

You don't need an "if" here, and "food" doesn't need a "def". It is a variable just like hash is, with a value of true if "calories" is found and false otherwise. Since hash.has_key?("calories") returns true or false based on if "calories" is found, the result can be directly assigned to food:

food = hash.has_key?("calories")
Joshua Goss
Joshua Goss
5,617 Points
Joshua Goss
Joshua Goss
5,617 Points

Ohhh okay, thank you! I understand, since .has_key is going to resolve to true, food will be defined as such.