Question

Is there a way to make this one liner better looking?

@var = params[:key1][:key2] unless params.blank? || params[:key1].blank?

Answer 1

Wow, thanks for all the replies!

I’m going to sum up the answers – as the answer seems more subtle than just another oneliner 😉

As gertas point out that params is always present in a controller action (which is indeed where I’m working), and that nil check is enough, my original code can thus be reduced to:

@var = params[:key1][:key2] unless params[:key1].nil?

This is quite readable but not as short as other suggestions, like

params[:key1].nil? || (@var = params[:key1][:key2])

@var =  params[:key1] && params[:key1][:key2]

or even

@var = (params[:key1] || {})[:key2]

I wondered how to use rubys try() method on hashes, and hellvinz gave the answer (rewritten to match my new/realized need):

@var = params[:key1].try(:fetch, :key2, nil)

Finally, Shinya Miyazaki came up with some interesting variations using fetch and merge:

@var = params.fetch(:key1, {}).fetch(:key2, nil)

@var = {:key1=>{}}.merge(params)[:key1][:key2]

I ended up going with “my own”, to honor the principle of “Clarity over Brevity” as pointed out by Chris McCauley

Thanks again everyone! 🙂