How do I compare two hashes?

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You can compare hashes directly for equality:

hash1 = {'a' => 1, 'b' => 2}
hash2 = {'a' => 1, 'b' => 2}
hash3 = {'a' => 1, 'b' => 2, 'c' => 3}

hash1 == hash2 # => true
hash1 == hash3 # => false

hash1.to_a == hash2.to_a # => true
hash1.to_a == hash3.to_a # => false

You can convert the hashes to arrays, then get their difference:

hash3.to_a - hash1.to_a # => [["c", 3]]

if (hash3.size > hash1.size)
  difference = hash3.to_a - hash1.to_a
else
  difference = hash1.to_a - hash3.to_a
end
Hash[*difference.flatten] # => {"c"=>3}

Simplifying further:

Assigning difference via a ternary structure:

  difference = (hash3.size > hash1.size) \
                ? hash3.to_a - hash1.to_a \
                : hash1.to_a - hash3.to_a
=> [["c", 3]]
  Hash[*difference.flatten] 
=> {"c"=>3}

Doing it all in one operation and getting rid of the difference variable:

  Hash[*(
  (hash3.size > hash1.size)    \
      ? hash3.to_a - hash1.to_a \
      : hash1.to_a - hash3.to_a
  ).flatten] 
=> {"c"=>3}

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