Marshal ruby hash with default proc - remove the default proc?

Question

I've got a Hash with a default proc that I'd like to Marshal to a file, but the default proc prevents me from doing that.

Rather than writing my own _dump and _load methods, is it possible instead to remove the default proc instead? At the point where I'm Marshalling I'm never going to need the default proc again.

Answer 1

Just reset the default:

h.default = nil

More explicitly:

def dumpable_hash(h)
  return h unless h.default_proc
  copy = h.clone  
  copy.default = nil # clear the default_proc
  copy
end

In Ruby 2.0, you can also write h.default_proc = nil if you prefer. Available for all Rubies with require 'backports/2.0.0/hash/default_proc'.