method

match

Ruby latest stable (v1_8_7_72) - 2 notes - Class: String

match(p1) public

Converts pattern to a Regexp (if it isn’t already one), then invokes its match method on str.

   'hello'.match('(.)\1')      #=> #<MatchData:0x401b3d30>
   'hello'.match('(.)\1')[0]   #=> "ll"
   'hello'.match(/(.)\1/)[0]   #=> "ll"
   'hello'.match('xx')         #=> nil

Show source

/*
 *  call-seq:
 *     str.match(pattern)   => matchdata or nil
 *  
 *  Converts <i>pattern</i> to a <code>Regexp</code> (if it isn't already one),
 *  then invokes its <code>match</code> method on <i>str</i>.
 *     
 *     'hello'.match('(.)\1')      #=> #<MatchData:0x401b3d30>
 *     'hello'.match('(.)\1')[0]   #=> "ll"
 *     'hello'.match(/(.)\1/)[0]   #=> "ll"
 *     'hello'.match('xx')         #=> nil
 */

static VALUE
rb_str_match_m(str, re)
    VALUE str, re;
{
    return rb_funcall(get_pat(re, 0), rb_intern("match"), 1, str);
}

March 5, 2009

6 thanks

String#match will match single token only

  >> s = "{{person}} ate {{thing}}"
  => "{{person}} ate {{thing}}"
  >> r = /\{\{(.*?)\}\}/
  => {{}}
  >> s.match(r).captures
  => ["person"]

Using String#scan pulls out all tokens you were searching for:

  >> s.scan(r).flatten
  => ["person", "thing"]

February 10, 2009

0 thanks

Cheat Sheet

I have written a short introduction and a colorful cheat sheet for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) as used by Ruby’s Regexp class:

http://www.bitcetera.com/en/techblog/2008/04/01/regex-in-a-nutshell/

match

Related methods

String#match will match single token only

Cheat Sheet