Is there a literal notation for an array of symbols?
In Ruby 1.x, unfortunately the list of available %-delimiters is limited
Modifier Meaning
%q[ ] Non-interpolated String (except for \\ \[ and \])
%Q[ ] Interpolated String (default)
%r[ ] Interpolated Regexp (flags can appear after the closing delimiter)
%s[ ] Non-interpolated Symbol
%w[ ] Non-interpolated Array of words, separated by whitespace
%W[ ] Interpolated Array of words, separated by whitespace
%x[ ] Interpolated shell command
Yes! This is possible now in Ruby 2.0.0. One way to write it is:
%i{foo bar} # => [:foo, :bar]
You can also use other delimiters, so you could also write %i(foo bar)
or %i!foo bar!
for example.
This feature was originally announced here:
http://www.ruby-lang.org/zh_TW/news/2012/11/02/ruby-2-0-0-preview1-released/
It is mentioned in the official documentation of Ruby here:
http://ruby-doc.org/core/doc/syntax/literals_rdoc.html#label-Percent+Strings