Sort hash by key, return hash in Ruby

Question

Would this be the best way to sort a hash and return Hash object (instead of Array):

h = {\"a\"=>1, \"c\"=>3, \"b\"=>2, \"d\"=>4}
# => {\"a\"=         


        

Answer 1

No, it is not (Ruby 1.9.x)

require 'benchmark'

h = {"a"=>1, "c"=>3, "b"=>2, "d"=>4}
many = 100_000

Benchmark.bm do |b|
  GC.start

  b.report("hash sort") do
    many.times do
      Hash[h.sort]
    end
  end

  GC.start

  b.report("keys sort") do
    many.times do
      nh = {}
      h.keys.sort.each do |k|
        nh[k] = h[k]
      end
    end
  end
end

       user     system      total        real
hash sort  0.400000   0.000000   0.400000 (  0.405588)
keys sort  0.250000   0.010000   0.260000 (  0.260303)

For big hashes difference will grow up to 10x and more

Answer 2

Note: Ruby >= 1.9.2 has an order-preserving hash: the order keys are inserted will be the order they are enumerated. The below applies to older versions or to backward-compatible code.

There is no concept of a sorted hash. So no, what you're doing isn't right.

If you want it sorted for display, return a string:

"{" + h.sort.map{|k,v| "#{k.inspect}=>#{v.inspect}"}.join(", ") + "}"

or, if you want the keys in order:

h.keys.sort

or, if you want to access the elements in order:

h.sort.map do |key,value|
  # keys will arrive in order to this block, with their associated value.
end

but in summary, it makes no sense to talk about a sorted hash. From the docs, "The order in which you traverse a hash by either key or value may seem arbitrary, and will generally not be in the insertion order." So inserting keys in a specific order into the hash won't help.

Answer 3

In Ruby 2.1 it is simple:

h.sort.to_h

Answer 4

I had the same problem ( I had to sort my equipments by their name ) and i solved like this:

<% @equipments.sort.each do |name, quantity| %>
...
<% end %>

@equipments is a hash that I build on my model and return on my controller. If you call .sort it will sort the hash based on it's key value.