Nested dynamic array rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have created an array
steps = [{'title' =>'abc','content' =>'click this', 'target' => 'bca'}]
tours = ['id'=>'tour', 'steps:' => "#{steps}"]
puts tours
Getting following output :
{"id"=>"tour", "steps:"=>"[{\"title\"=>\"abc\", \"content\"=>\"click this\", \"target\"=>\"bca\"}]"}
The structure of the output is right but i don't want these \ in the output.
What should i do to remove these \.
Thanks!

Answer 1

In ruby "#{}" invoke the to_s method on the object. You can check it run the following code: steps.to_s.
Just use:
tours = ['id'=>'tour', 'steps:' => steps]
Because this:
"[{\"title\"=>\"abc\", \"content\"=>\"click this\", \"target\"=>\"bca\"}]"
is a string representation of:
[{'title' =>'abc','content' =>'click this', 'target' => 'bca'}]

Answer 2

Зелёный has the direct answer for you, however, there's a more pressing issue I would point out -- I think you're getting confused between {hashes} and [arrays]
--
An array is a set of unordered data:
array = [3, 4, 5, 6, 0, 5, 3, "cat", "dog"]
Arrays are mainly used for non-sequential collections of data, a good example being product_ids in a shopping cart.
Arrays can only be identified by using the location of the data inside the array:
array[1] # -> 4
array[2] # -> 5
--
A hash is a collection of key:value pairs:
hash = {name: "Greg", type: "cat"}
Hashes are used when you wish to assign multiple values to a single piece of data, and can be called by referencing the "key" of the hash:
hash["name"] #-> Greg
hash["type"] #-> cat
Whilst you can create an array of hashes:
hash_array = [{name: "Greg", type: "cat"}, {name: "Sulla", type: "Dog"}]
... the problem with this is that you cannot call the hashes directly - they have to be through the array:
hash_array["name"] # -> error
hash_array[0]["name"] #-> "Greg"
Thus, I'd use the following in your example:
steps = {'title' =>'abc','content' =>'click this', 'target' => 'bca'}
tours = {id: 'tour', steps: steps}
tours.inspect #-> { id: "tour", steps: { "title" => "abc", "content" => "click this", "target" => "bca" }