class OpenStruct

An OpenStruct is a data structure, similar to a Hash, that allows the definition of arbitrary attributes with their accompanying values. This is accomplished by using Ruby’s metaprogramming to define methods on the class itself.

Examples¶ ↑

require "ostruct"

person = OpenStruct.new
person.name = "John Smith"
person.age  = 70

person.name      # => "John Smith"
person.age       # => 70
person.address   # => nil

An OpenStruct employs a Hash internally to store the attributes and values and can even be initialized with one:

australia = OpenStruct.new(:country => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra")
  # => #<OpenStruct country="Australia", capital="Canberra">

Hash keys with spaces or characters that could normally not be used for method calls (e.g. ()[]*) will not be immediately available on the OpenStruct object as a method for retrieval or assignment, but can still be reached through the Object#send method or using [].

measurements = OpenStruct.new("length (in inches)" => 24)
measurements[:"length (in inches)"]       # => 24
measurements.send("length (in inches)")   # => 24

message = OpenStruct.new(:queued? => true)
message.queued?                           # => true
message.send("queued?=", false)
message.queued?                           # => false

Removing the presence of an attribute requires the execution of the delete_field method as setting the property value to nil will not remove the attribute.

first_pet  = OpenStruct.new(:name => "Rowdy", :owner => "John Smith")
second_pet = OpenStruct.new(:name => "Rowdy")

first_pet.owner = nil
first_pet                 # => #<OpenStruct name="Rowdy", owner=nil>
first_pet == second_pet   # => false

first_pet.delete_field(:owner)
first_pet                 # => #<OpenStruct name="Rowdy">
first_pet == second_pet   # => true

Ractor compatibility: A frozen OpenStruct with shareable values is itself shareable.

Caveats¶ ↑

An OpenStruct utilizes Ruby’s method lookup structure to find and define the necessary methods for properties. This is accomplished through the methods method_missing and define_singleton_method.

This should be a consideration if there is a concern about the performance of the objects that are created, as there is much more overhead in the setting of these properties compared to using a Hash or a Struct. Creating an open struct from a small Hash and accessing a few of the entries can be 200 times slower than accessing the hash directly.

This is a potential security issue; building OpenStruct from untrusted user data (e.g. JSON web request) may be susceptible to a “symbol denial of service” attack since the keys create methods and names of methods are never garbage collected.

This may also be the source of incompatibilities between Ruby versions:

o = OpenStruct.new
o.then # => nil in Ruby < 2.6, enumerator for Ruby >= 2.6

Builtin methods may be overwritten this way, which may be a source of bugs or security issues:

o = OpenStruct.new
o.methods # => [:to_h, :marshal_load, :marshal_dump, :each_pair, ...
o.methods = [:foo, :bar]
o.methods # => [:foo, :bar]

To help remedy clashes, OpenStruct uses only protected/private methods ending with ! and defines aliases for builtin public methods by adding a !:

o = OpenStruct.new(make: 'Bentley', class: :luxury)
o.class # => :luxury
o.class! # => OpenStruct

It is recommended (but not enforced) to not use fields ending in !; Note that a subclass’ methods may not be overwritten, nor can OpenStruct’s own methods ending with !.

For all these reasons, consider not using OpenStruct at all.

# File ext/json/lib/json/add/ostruct.rb, line 13
def self.json_create(object)
  new(object['t'] || object[:t])
end

require "ostruct"
hash = { "country" => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra" }
data = OpenStruct.new(hash)

data   # => #<OpenStruct country="Australia", capital="Canberra">

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 134
def initialize(hash=nil)
  if HAS_PERFORMANCE_WARNINGS && Warning[:performance]
     warn "OpenStruct use is discouraged for performance reasons", uplevel: 1, category: :performance
  end

  if hash
    update_to_values!(hash)
  else
    @table = {}
  end
end

require "ostruct"
first_pet  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "Rowdy")
second_pet = OpenStruct.new(:name  => "Rowdy")
third_pet  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "Rowdy", :age => nil)

first_pet == second_pet   # => true
first_pet == third_pet    # => false

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 423
def ==(other)
  return false unless other.kind_of?(OpenStruct)
  @table == other.table!
end

require "ostruct"
person = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "age" => 70)
person[:age]   # => 70, same as person.age

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 303
def [](name)
  @table[name.to_sym]
end

require "ostruct"
person = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "age" => 70)
person[:age] = 42   # equivalent to person.age = 42
person.age          # => 42

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 318
def []=(name, value)
  name = name.to_sym
  new_ostruct_member!(name)
  @table[name] = value
end

require 'json/add/ostruct'
x = OpenStruct.new('name' => 'Rowdy', :age => nil).as_json
# => {"json_class"=>"OpenStruct", "t"=>{:name=>'Rowdy', :age=>nil}}

OpenStruct.json_create(x)
# => #<OpenStruct name='Rowdy', age=nil>

# File ext/json/lib/json/add/ostruct.rb, line 33
def as_json(*)
  klass = self.class.name
  klass.to_s.empty? and raise JSON::JSONError, "Only named structs are supported!"
  {
    JSON.create_id => klass,
    't'            => table,
  }
end

require "ostruct"

person = OpenStruct.new(name: "John", age: 70, pension: 300)

person.delete_field!("age")  # => 70
person                       # => #<OpenStruct name="John", pension=300>

person.pension = nil
person                 # => #<OpenStruct name="John", pension=nil>

person.delete_field('number')  # => NameError

person.delete_field('number') { 8675_309 } # => 8675309

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 371
def delete_field(name, &block)
  sym = name.to_sym
  begin
    singleton_class.remove_method(sym, "#{sym}=")
  rescue NameError
  end
  @table.delete(sym) do
    return yield if block
    raise! NameError.new("no field '#{sym}' in #{self}", sym)
  end
end

require "ostruct"
address = OpenStruct.new("city" => "Anytown NC", "zip" => 12345)
person  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "address" => address)
person.dig(:address, "zip") # => 12345
person.dig(:business_address, "zip") # => nil

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 340
def dig(name, *names)
  begin
    name = name.to_sym
  rescue NoMethodError
    raise! TypeError, "#{name} is not a symbol nor a string"
  end
  @table.dig(name, *names)
end

require "ostruct"
data = OpenStruct.new("country" => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra")
data.each_pair.to_a   # => [[:country, "Australia"], [:capital, "Canberra"]]

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 211
def each_pair
  return to_enum(__method__) { @table.size } unless defined?(yield)
  @table.each_pair{|p| yield p}
  self
end

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 433
def eql?(other)
  return false unless other.kind_of?(OpenStruct)
  @table.eql?(other.table!)
end

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 269
def freeze
  @table.freeze
  super
end

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 388
def inspect
  ids = (Thread.current[InspectKey] ||= [])
  if ids.include?(object_id)
    detail = ' ...'
  else
    ids << object_id
    begin
      detail = @table.map do |key, value|
        " #{key}=#{value.inspect}"
      end.join(',')
    ensure
      ids.pop
    end
  end
  ['#<', self.class!, detail, '>'].join
end

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 182
def to_h(&block)
  if block
    @table.to_h(&block)
  else
    @table.dup
  end
end

require 'json/add/ostruct'
puts OpenStruct.new('name' => 'Rowdy', :age => nil).to_json

{"json_class":"OpenStruct","t":{'name':'Rowdy',"age":null}}

# File ext/json/lib/json/add/ostruct.rb, line 51
def to_json(*args)
  as_json.to_json(*args)
end