Ruby: Most concise way to use an ENV variable if it exists, otherwise use default value

myvar = ENV['MY_VAR'] || 'foobar'

N.B. This is slightly incorrect (if the hash can contain the value nil) but since ENV contains just strings it is probably good enough.

The most reliable way for a general Hash is to ask if it has the key:

myvar = h.has_key?('MY_VAR') ? h['MY_VAR'] : 'default'

If you don't care about nil or false values (i.e. you want to treat them the same as "not there"), then undur_gongor's approach is good (this should also be fine when h is ENV):

myvar = h['MY_VAR'] || 'foobar'

And if you want to allow nil to be in your Hash but pretend it isn't there (i.e. a nil value is the same as "not there") while allowing a false in your Hash:

myvar = h['MY_VAR'].nil? ? 'foobar' : h['MY_VAR']

In the end it really depends on your precise intent and you should choose the approach that matches your intent. The choice between if/else/end and ? : is, of course, a matter of taste and "concise" doesn't mean "least number of characters" so feel free to use a ternary or if block as desired.

hash.fetch(key) { default_value }

Will return the value if it exists, and return default_value if the key doesn't exist.