Method: String#to_sym

Defined in:
symbol.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"



839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
 
# File 'symbol.c', line 839

VALUE
rb_str_intern(VALUE str)
{
    VALUE sym;
#if USE_SYMBOL_GC
    rb_encoding *enc, *ascii;
    int type;
#else
    ID id;
#endif
    GLOBAL_SYMBOLS_ENTER(symbols);
    {
        sym = lookup_str_sym_with_lock(symbols, str);

        if (sym) {
            // ok
        }
        else {
#if USE_SYMBOL_GC
            enc = rb_enc_get(str);
            ascii = rb_usascii_encoding();
            if (enc != ascii && sym_check_asciionly(str)) {
                str = rb_str_dup(str);
                rb_enc_associate(str, ascii);
                OBJ_FREEZE(str);
                enc = ascii;
            }
            else {
                str = rb_str_dup(str);
                OBJ_FREEZE(str);
            }
            str = rb_fstring(str);
            type = rb_str_symname_type(str, IDSET_ATTRSET_FOR_INTERN);
            if (type < 0) type = ID_JUNK;
            sym = dsymbol_alloc(symbols, rb_cSymbol, str, enc, type);
#else
            id = intern_str(str, 0);
            sym = ID2SYM(id);
#endif
        }
    }
    GLOBAL_SYMBOLS_LEAVE();
    return sym;
}