Returns the integer hash value for +self+. Two \String objects that have identical content and compatible encodings also have the same hash value; see Object#hash and {Encodings}[rdoc-ref:encodings.rdoc]: s = 'foo' h = s.hash # => -569050784 h == 'foo'.hash # => true h == 'food'.hash # => false h == 'FOO'.hash # => false s0 = "äöü" s1 = s0.encode(Encoding::ISO_8859_1) s0.encoding # => # s1.encoding # => # s0.hash == s1.hash # => false Related: see {Querying}[rdoc-ref:String@Querying].