RSpec: comparing a hash with string keys against a hash with symbol keys?

Question

Consider the following RSpec snippet:

it "should match" do
  {:a => 1, :b => 2}.should =~ {"a" => 1, "b" => 2}
end

This test fails because one hash uses symbols for keys and the other uses strings for keys. In my case, one hash is a parsed JSON object, the other is the hash that created the object. I'd like them to compare as equal.

Before I go writing my own matcher or coercing both hashes to have string keys, is there a matcher or technique that handles this (common) case?

Answer 1

You could do:

it "should match" do
    {:a => 1, :b => 2}.stringify_keys.should =~ {"a" => 1, "b" => 2}
end

Answer 2

Assuming you have access to Rails's ActiveSupport. You can leverage with_indifferent_access to match both hashes. Below is an example with the hashrocket Ruby syntax and the Rspec expect syntax:

it 'matches two hashes' do
  hash_1 = {a: 1, b: 2}.with_indifferent_access
  hash_2 = {'a' => 1, 'b' => 2}
  expect(hash_1).to match(hash_2)
end

Note: make sure to use with_indifferent_access on the hash with the symbol keys