How to escape spaces

ruby-talk
1

I'm using ruby 1.8.4. I'm trying to use the gsub function to escape
spaces in a linux path that is stored in a variable.

When I attempt the following, t = "a B"; t.gsub(/ /, "\\ "), I receive
the following output:

irb(main):001:0> t = "a B"; t.gsub(/ /, "\\ ")
=> "a\\ B"

I'd like to get "a\ B" (without quotes, of course). Can someone point
me in the proper direction? Note: I've tried many different variations
with no luck.
Thanks,
  Jonathan

2

Jonathan Wallace wrote:

I'm using ruby 1.8.4. I'm trying to use the gsub function to escape
spaces in a linux path that is stored in a variable.

See
http://www.archivum.info/comp.lang.ruby/2005-09/msg03460.html
or
http://wiki.rubygarden.org/Ruby/page/show/RegexpCookbook

3

Your trouble isn't with your gsub patterns I don't believe but with what you are seeing in irb.

irb(main):107:0> t="a B"
=> "a B"
irb(main):108:0> t.gsub(/ /,"\\")
=> "a\\B"
irb(main):109:0> puts t.gsub(/ /,"\\")
a\B
=> nil
irb(main):110:0> 92.chr
=> "\\"
irb(main):111:0> puts 92.chr
\
=> nil
irb(main):112:0> Regexp::escape(t)
=> "a\\ B"
irb(main):113:0> puts Regexp::escape(t)
a\ B
=> nil

···

On Sep 30, 2006, at 9:30 PM, Jonathan Wallace wrote:

I'm using ruby 1.8.4. I'm trying to use the gsub function to escape
spaces in a linux path that is stored in a variable.

When I attempt the following, t = "a B"; t.gsub(/ /, "\\ "), I receive
the following output:

irb(main):001:0> t = "a B"; t.gsub(/ /, "\\ ")
=> "a\\ B"

I'd like to get "a\ B" (without quotes, of course). Can someone point
me in the proper direction? Note: I've tried many different variations
with no luck.
Thanks,
  Jonathan

4

The representation of a backslash (\) is an escaped backslash (\\);
when the later is evaluated by the interpreter (i.e., you ask for its
value) you get the former. You can check the length of the string, or
just print it out, to see this:

s='a\b' # => "a\\b"
s.length # => 3
puts s # => a\b

Regards,
Jordan