Ruby Programming/Reference/Objects/Regexp
Regexp Regular ExpressionsEdit
Class Regexp holds a regular expression, used to match a pattern of strings.
Regular expressions can be created using /your_regex_here/ or by using the constructor "new".
>> /a regex/ >> /a case insensitive regex/i
or use the new constructor with constants, like
>> Regexp.new('a regex') >> Regexp.new('a regex', MULTILINE)
To see all available creation options, please see the regex rdoc.
onigurumaEdit
Starting with 1.9, ruby has a new Regular Expression engine (oniguruma), which is slightly faster and more powerful, as well as encoding aware/friendly. To see a good explanation of how it works, please see its rdoc.
Simplifying regexesEdit
Strategy: name them, then combine them.
float = /[\d]+\.[\d]+/ complex = /[+-]#{float}\.#{float}/
Helper websitesEdit
"rubular":http://rubular.com lets you test your regexps online
Alternative Regular Expression LibrariesEdit
Some other wrappers exist: