Difference between as_json and to_json method in Ruby

Question

What's the difference between the two methods as_json and to_json. Are they same? If not what's the difference between them?

Answer 1

to_json returns String. as_json returns Hash with String keys.

> { :name => "Konata Izumi", 'age' => 16, 1 => 2 }.to_json "{\"name\":\"Konata Izumi\",\"age\":16,\"1\":2}"  > { :name => "Konata Izumi", 'age' => 16, 1 => 2 }.as_json {"name"=>"Konata Izumi", "age"=>16, "1"=>2} 

Answer 2

as_json returns a hash representation of your model object, while to_json returns a json object.

Note: Internally, when you call the to_json method on your model/serializer, as_json is first called.

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