Hash deletion shortcut GitHub issue

• • Candidates
• • Recommendation (not committed)
• • Status

{"vibecode": {
    "doc": "hash-deletion-shortcut",
    "role": "speculative ergonomics note exploring shorter syntaxes for hash deletion (-=, -[...], delete keyword, chained .delete); canonical $hash.delete($key) stays in v1",
    "key_concepts": ["hash_deletion_ergonomics", "minus_equals_candidate",
        "set_difference_analogy", "not_in_v1"],
    "status": "brainstorm"
}}

Speculative — filed for future consideration. The canonical form is $hash.delete($key); this idea is about whether a shorter syntax would carry its weight.

Candidates GitHub issue

• $hash -= $foo — assignment-style. Scales to arrays naturally: $hash -= ['a', 'b', 'c'] for batch removal. Parallels set difference. Mild ambiguity with numeric subtraction in theory, but $hash is a hash so unambiguous in practice.
• $hash-[$foo] — visually compact. Unambiguous because no other operator combines - and [. Could extend to batch form ($hash-{a, b}?) but the shape is less obvious than the -= version.
• delete $hash[$foo] — keyword prefix, familiar from Python and Perl. Verbose but readable; zero ambiguity.
• $hash[$foo].delete — chained postfix. Works today via the element-object API ($hash.elements.find_by_key($foo).delete), but a direct $hash[$foo].delete would need [] to return an Element rather than a value.

Recommendation (not committed) GitHub issue

$hash -= $foo is the cleanest; the batch form falls out for free and the syntax has set-theory roots that scale to other collection types if wanted.

Status GitHub issue