[newbie] How do I match a regex multiple times?

ruby-talk
1

When I use String#match, it only seems to match the regex pattern once. How
do I tell it to match the pattern as many times as possible?

e.g. puts ‘robo ruler ruby’.match(/r\w+/)

That only return ‘robo’, but I would like it to return [robo, ruler, ruby]

I tried using the /g modifier, but Ruby doesn’t seem to know about that.

I’m doing this 'cos I’m trying to extract all the function names from a PHP
file, but I shouldn’t have to tell it to search it line by line do I?

Robo

2

e.g. puts 'robo ruler ruby'.match(/r\w+/)

String#scan

svg% ri String#scan
------------------------------------------------------------ String#scan
     str.scan(pattern) => array
     str.scan(pattern) {|match, ...| block } => str

···

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Both forms iterate through _str_, matching the pattern (which may
     be a +Regexp+ or a +String+). For each match, a result is generated
     and either added to the result array or passed to the block. If the
     pattern contains no groups, each individual result consists of the
     matched string, +$&+. If the pattern contains groups, each
     individual result is itself an array containing one entry per
     group.

        a = "cruel world"
        a.scan(/\w+/) #=> ["cruel", "world"]
        a.scan(/.../) #=> ["cru", "el ", "wor"]
        a.scan(/(...)/) #=> [["cru"], ["el "], ["wor"]]
        a.scan(/(..)(..)/) #=> [["cr", "ue"], ["l ", "wo"]]

     And the block form:

        a.scan(/\w+/) {|w| print "<<#{w}>> " }
        print "\n"
        a.scan(/(.)(.)/) {|a,b| print b, a }
        print "\n"

     _produces:_

        <<cruel>> <<world>>
        rceu lowlr

svg%

Guy Decoux

3

Robo wrote:

When I use String#match, it only seems to match the regex pattern once. How
do I tell it to match the pattern as many times as possible?

puts ‘robo ruler ruby’.scan(/r\w+/)
robo
ruler
ruby

Regards,

···

–
Bil Kleb, Hampton, Virginia