2 files changed, 22 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 61b56b3ad1..87c9dcf743 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ with all sufficient information, see the ChangeLog file.
       * added LoadError#path method to return the file name that could not be
         loaded.
 
+  * NilClass
+    * added method:
+      * added nil.to_h which returns {}
+
   * Signal
     * incompatible changes:
       * Signal.trap raises ArgumentError when :SEGV, :BUS, :ILL, :FPE, :VTALRM
diff --git a/object.c b/object.c
index 59bdea0c18..3c4445cb59 100644
--- a/object.c
+++ b/object.c
@@ -1058,6 +1058,23 @@ nil_to_a(VALUE obj)
 }
 
 /*
+ * Document-method: to_h
+ *
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     nil.to_h    -> {}
+ *
+ *  Always returns an empty hash.
+ *
+ *     nil.to_h   #=> {}
+ */
+
+static VALUE
+nil_to_h(VALUE obj)
+{
+    return rb_hash_new();
+}
+
+/*
  *  call-seq:
  *    nil.inspect  -> "nil"
  *
@@ -2896,6 +2913,7 @@ Init_Object(void)
     rb_define_method(rb_cNilClass, "to_f", nil_to_f, 0);
     rb_define_method(rb_cNilClass, "to_s", nil_to_s, 0);
     rb_define_method(rb_cNilClass, "to_a", nil_to_a, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cNilClass, "to_h", nil_to_h, 0);
     rb_define_method(rb_cNilClass, "inspect", nil_inspect, 0);
     rb_define_method(rb_cNilClass, "&", false_and, 1);
     rb_define_method(rb_cNilClass, "|", false_or, 1);