Question

I’m trying to convert the following string to either a hash or json.

How do I do this in ruby?

[{"place":null,"coordinates":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"in_reply_to_status_id":null,
"favorited":false,"truncated":false,"created_at":"Wed Nov 16 08:00:46 +0000 2011","retweet_count":0,"in_reply_to_screen_name":null,
"user":{"profile_background_image_url":"http:\/\/a1.twimg.com\/profile_background_images\/190989640\/afcx.jpg","protected":false,
"statuses_count":23414,"profile_link_color":"FF0000"},"retweeted":false,"in_reply_to_status_id_str":null,"in_reply_to_user_id_str":null,"contributors":null,"geo":null}]

I’m running ruby1.8.7.

Answer 1

What you have appears to be JSON already, so I assume you’re looking to get a Ruby Hash from it. If so, then this should work:

Get a JSON library, I used gem install json_pure, which is a native Ruby implementation (there’s a faster, C-based version but you wouldn’t notice the difference unless your JSON strings are very large or you have a lot of them).

then

require 'json'
arr = JSON(your_json_string_here)

Note that the string you gave is a single-element array containing something that will map to a Ruby Hash. If you just want the hash:

the_hash = arr[0]   # or maybe arr.first

I get this:

{"coordinates"=>nil, "created_at"=>"Wed Nov 16 08:00:46 +0000 2011",
 "truncated"=>false, "favorited"=>false, "in_reply_to_user_id_str"=>nil, 
 "contributors"=>nil, in_reply_to_status_id_str"=>nil, "retweet_count"=>0, 
 "geo"=>nil, "retweeted"=>false, "in_reply_to_user_id"=>nil,
 "user"=>{"profile_link_color"=>"FF0000", "protected"=>false,
 "statuses_count"=>23414,
 "profile_background_image_url"=>"http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/190989640/afcx.jpg"}, 
"in_reply_to_screen_name"=>nil, place"=>nil, "in_reply_to_status_id"=>nil}