Method: String#intern

Defined in:

string.c

#intern ⇒ Object #to_sym ⇒ Object

Returns the Symbol corresponding to str, creating the symbol if it did not previously exist. See Symbol#id2name.

"Koala".intern         #=> :Koala
s = 'cat'.to_sym       #=> :cat
s == :cat              #=> true
s = '@cat'.to_sym      #=> :@cat
s == :@cat             #=> true

This can also be used to create symbols that cannot be represented using the :xxx notation.

'cat and dog'.to_sym   #=> :"cat and dog"

# File 'string.c', line 4398

VALUE
rb_str_intern(s)
VALUE s;