what is the best way to convert a json formatted key value pair to ruby hash with symbol as key?

using the json gem when parsing the json string you can pass in the symbolize_names option. See here: http://flori.github.com/json/doc/index.html (look under parse)

eg:

>> s ="{\"akey\":\"one\",\"bkey\":\"two\"}"
>> JSON.parse(s,:symbolize_names => true)
=> {:akey=>"one", :bkey=>"two"}