Ruby Syntax, using numbers in symbols?

Question

I'm new to ruby and Chef and am running to an issue with syntax when defining attributes in my cookbook. Below is relevant code:

default[:my_cookbook][:stuff] = {
:foo_bar => {
:grok => ['Hi'],
:2grok => ['Bye'],
...

It appears I can't use a number to begin 2grok.. Is there a way to escape this, or what would be the proper syntax to use '2grok'?

Answer 1

If you want to start a symbol with a digit, you need to enclose it in quotes:

:'2grok' => ['Hi']

If you use double quotes, ruby interpolates string inside:

:"#{1 + 1}grok"

Also, you can use percent-notation:

%s{2grok}

Finally, you can get the symbol by calling to_sym method on a String:

'2grok'.to_sym => ['Hi']