In much the same way as you can use * for array concatenation in Ruby, you can use ** to merge hashes:

hash = { b: 2, c: 3 }
{ a: 1, **hash }  # => { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3 }

If the same key exists in both hashes, the last one wins:

hash = { a: :wins, b: 2 }
{ a: :loses, **hash }  # => { a: :wins, b: 2 }

hash = { a: :loses, b: 2 }
{ **hash, a: :wins }  # => { a: :wins, b: 2 }

I find this way of merging hashes convenient for factory methods in tests.

Instead of this:

def build_user(overrides = {})
  User.new(
    {
      name: "John Doe",
      role: "admin",
    }.merge(overrides)
  )
end

user1 = build_user
user2 = build_user(role: "superadmin", age: 42)

You can just do this:

def build_user(**overrides)
  User.new(
    name: "John Doe",
    role: "admin",
    **overrides
  )
end

user1 = build_user
user2 = build_user(role: "superadmin", age: 42)