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Ruby Ruby Collections Build a Grocery List Program Create a Method That Returns a Hash

Posted by Will Long
Will Long
5,449 Points

why does this say that it is not returning the hash when it explicitly say "return hash"

def create_shopping_list

hash = ["name" => "name", "item" => "array.new"] return hash

end

list = create_shopping_list

shopping_list.rb 
def create_shopping_list

  hash = ["name" => "name", "item" => "array.new"]
  return hash

end

list =  create_shopping_list

1 Answer

Gilbert Kennen
Gilbert Kennen
10,661 Points

Hashes use curly braces, not square brackets. You are creating an array with a hash in the middle of it.

[{"name" => "name", "item" => "array.new"}]

You probably want to do:

def create_shopping_list

  hash = {"name" => "name", "item" => "array.new"}
  hash

end

While I recognize this is a trivial method, standard Ruby practice is to only use return when you are breaking out of the middle of a method, otherwise it always returns the result of the last expression of the method.

Will Long
Will Long
5,449 Points

ohh