[ruby] How do I convert a String object into a Hash object?

Please consider this solution. Library+spec:

File: lib/ext/hash/from_string.rb:

require "json"

module Ext
  module Hash
    module ClassMethods
      # Build a new object from string representation.
      #
      #   from_string('{"name"=>"Joe"}')
      #
      # @param s [String]
      # @return [Hash]
      def from_string(s)
        s.gsub!(/(?<!\\)"=>nil/, '":null')
        s.gsub!(/(?<!\\)"=>/, '":')
        JSON.parse(s)
      end
    end
  end
end

class Hash    #:nodoc:
  extend Ext::Hash::ClassMethods
end

File: spec/lib/ext/hash/from_string_spec.rb:

require "ext/hash/from_string"

describe "Hash.from_string" do
  it "generally works" do
    [
      # Basic cases.
      ['{"x"=>"y"}', {"x" => "y"}],
      ['{"is"=>true}', {"is" => true}],
      ['{"is"=>false}', {"is" => false}],
      ['{"is"=>nil}', {"is" => nil}],
      ['{"a"=>{"b"=>"c","ar":[1,2]}}', {"a" => {"b" => "c", "ar" => [1, 2]}}],
      ['{"id"=>34030, "users"=>[14105]}', {"id" => 34030, "users" => [14105]}],

      # Tricky cases.
      ['{"data"=>"{\"x\"=>\"y\"}"}', {"data" => "{\"x\"=>\"y\"}"}],   # Value is a `Hash#inspect` string which must be preserved.
    ].each do |input, expected|
      output = Hash.from_string(input)
      expect([input, output]).to eq [input, expected]
    end
  end # it
end