==, equal?, eql?, === in Ruby: what they check and when to use them

Oct 29, '25 20:47

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Post cover: ==, equal?, eql?, === in Ruby: what they check and when to use them

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== (value equality check)equal? (object identity check)eql? (strict equality check for hashes and numbers)=== (case-match operator)

In Ruby, there are several ways to compare. They may seem similar at first glance, but they work quite differently.

== (value equality check)

Checks if the objects have the same content.
Often overridden in classes (String, Array, Hash) to compare values rather than identity.

a = "hello"
b = "hello"

a == b        # => true
a.equal?(b)   # => false

== asks: "Do these objects have the same content?"

equal? (object identity check)

Checks if this is the same object in memory.
Not overridden in classes, always compares object ids.

a = "hello"
b = "hello"
c = a

a.equal?(b)  # => false
a.equal?(c)  # => true

Here, to understand all of this, you need to know what an object is in Ruby.

eql? (strict equality check for hashes and numbers)

Checks value and type.
Mainly used in hashes for keys.

1 == 1.0     # => true
1.eql?(1.0)  # => false, because different classes (Integer vs Float)

eql? is stricter than ==.

=== (case-match operator)

Used primarily in the case construct (we'll discuss this below).
Behaves differently for different classes:
- For classes (String, Integer) - checks if the object belongs to the class (is_a?).
- In regular expressions - checks if the string matches the pattern.
- In Range - checks if the object is within the range.

case 5
when 1..10
  "In range"   # => "In range"
end

String === "hello"  # => true
/ell/ === "hello"   # => true

Let's take a closer look at the example with case. How does case … when work in Ruby?

Syntax:

case object
when pattern1
  code1
when pattern2
  code2
else
  default_code
end

What happens under the hood

Ruby does something like this:

if pattern1 === object
  code1
elsif pattern2 === object
  code2
else
  default_code
end

So when automatically uses === to compare with the case value.

Next, examples for different types

Range

case 5
when 1..10
  "In range"
else
  "Out of range"
end
# => "In range"

It works as if Ruby executes (this is pseudocode):

(1..10) === 5  # => true

But it's important to note that using === on numbers or other types does not necessarily work the same way:

10 === (1..20)   # => false
10 == (1..20)    # => false
(1..20) == 10    # => false

Here, Range#=== checks if the number is within the range.

Class

case "hello"
when String
  "It's a string"
when Integer
  "It's a number"
end
# => "It's a string"

Ruby executes:

String === "hello"   # => true
Integer === "hello"  # => false

For classes, === is shorthand for obj.is_a?(Class).

c) Regular expression

case "hello"
when /ell/
  "Match with pattern"
else
  "No match"
end
# => "Match with pattern"

Under the hood:

/ell/ === "hello"   # => true

For Regexp, === checks if the string matches the pattern.

We have slightly deviated from the topic of === and moved to case (because === is under the hood). Such a simple operator, but it does different things.

To remember more easily:

case x; when y - this is not x == y, but y === x.
=== works differently depending on the type of y:
- Class -> is_a?
- Range -> include?
- Regexp -> =~ (string match)

This allows for very flexible condition writing.

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