title: How to add to an existing hash in Ruby
body: <p>In regards to adding an <code>key =&gt; value</code> pair to an existing populated hash in Ruby,  I'm in the process of working through Apress' Beginning Ruby and have just finished the hashes chapter.</p>
  
  <p>I am trying to find  the simplest way to achieve the same results with hashes as this does with arrays:</p>
  
  <pre><code>x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
  x &lt;&lt; 5
  p x
  </code></pre>