ruby on rails 3 - Params hash keys as symbols vs strings

Question

<%= params[:action] %>

and

<%= params['action'] %>

display

index

but what is the difference between this syntax?

Answer 1

In Rails, the params hash is actually a HashWithIndifferentAccess rather than a standard ruby Hash object. This allows you to use either strings like 'action' or symbols like :action to access the contents.

You will get the same results regardless of what you use, but keep in mind this only works on HashWithIndifferentAccess objects.