Regular expression

hi there

i wanting to write a regular expression which matches words which
contain the vowels [aeiou] in alphabetical order

im not sure where to start so any help would be greatly appreciated

thans

···

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Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

i wanting to write a regular expression which matches words which
contain the vowels [aeiou] in alphabetical order

im not sure where to start so any help would be greatly appreciated

This will get you started:

IRB:
>> re = /[^aeiou]*[a][^aeiou]*[e][^aeiou]*[i][^aeiou]*[o][^aeiou]*[u][^aeiou]*/
=> [aeiou][a][aeiou][e][aeiou][i][aeiou][o][aeiou][u][aeiou]
>> 'abstemious' =~ re
=> 0
>> 'facetious' =~ re
=> 0
>> 'bstemious' =~ re
=> nil
>> 'ebstamious' =~ re
=> nil

You can see there's a lot of repetition in the regular expression so the next step would probably be to DRY it. I leave that as an exercise to the reader (because I can't work out how to do it :slight_smile:

You'll may also wish to anchor the regular expression so it doesn't cross words.

Regards,
Andy Stewart

···

On 16 Jan 2008, at 15:57, Johnathan Smith wrote:

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Something like this?
irb(main):001:0> "frabelious" =~ /a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/
=> 2
irb(main):002:0> "frabeelious" =~ /a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/
=> 2
irb(main):003:0> "friaeelaous" =~ /a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/
=> nil

···

On 1/16/08, Johnathan Smith <stu_09@hotmail.com> wrote:

hi there

i wanting to write a regular expression which matches words which
contain the vowels [aeiou] in alphabetical order

im not sure where to start so any help would be greatly appreciated

thans
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

--
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/

Start with regular expression documentation; I think that's what your
teacher would want, instead of just having ruby-talk do your homework
for you.

http://ysomeya.hp.infoseek.co.jp/eng-quick_regex.html is one place to
start (very short); http://evolt.org/article/thelist/20/22700/ is
another, more extensive tutorial.

Neither of these are Ruby specific - this is OK, as what you need is
to understand the language regular expressions, not the language Ruby.

Eivind.

···

On Jan 16, 2008 4:57 PM, Johnathan Smith <stu_09@hotmail.com> wrote:

hi there

i wanting to write a regular expression which matches words which
contain the vowels [aeiou] in alphabetical order

im not sure where to start so any help would be greatly appreciated

>> re = /[^aeiou]*[a][^aeiou]*[e][^aeiou]*[i][^aeiou]*[o][^aeiou]*[u][^aeiou]*/

Oops, that should have been:

>> re = /[^aeiou]*a[^aeiou]*e[^aeiou]*i[^aeiou]*o[^aeiou]*u[^aeiou]*/

Regards,
Andy Stewart

···

On 16 Jan 2008, at 16:52, Andrew Stewart wrote:

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Rick Denatale wrote:

Something like this?
irb(main):001:0> "frabelious" =~ /a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/
=> 2

This doesn't work as expected...

irb(main):001:0> "xaxxixxexxixxuxxoxxuxx".match(/a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/)[0]
=> "axxixxexxixxuxxoxxu"

..., because it allows all wovels in any order in the word, if there is
one possible grouping with the wanted ordering - The subpattern "a.*?e"
for example allows any number of "a"s, "i"s, "o"s, and "u"s between the
"a" and the "e".

Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner

···

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Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

Andrew Stewart wrote:

You can see there's a lot of repetition in the regular expression so
the next step would probably be to DRY it.

O.K. - it really increases the readability :wink:

re = Regexp.compile((v=p='')+"^#{p="[^#{v='aeiou'}]*"}"+v.split('').
     join("[^#{v}]*")+p+'$')
p re # =>
/^[^aeiou]*a[^aeiou]*e[^aeiou]*i[^aeiou]*o[^aeiou]*u[^aeiou]*$/

Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner

···

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Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

Ahh, but "xaxxixxexxixxuxxoxxuxx" DOES contain the vowels in
alphabetical order, the original problem statement said nothing about
disallowing additional vowels.

I really posted my "solution" to drive out what he really wanted.
Kind of a test-driven approach.

···

On 1/16/08, Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner <ed.odanow@wonado.de> wrote:

Rick Denatale wrote:
> Something like this?
> irb(main):001:0> "frabelious" =~ /a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/
> => 2

This doesn't work as expected...

irb(main):001:0> "xaxxixxexxixxuxxoxxuxx".match(/a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/)[0]
=> "axxixxexxixxuxxoxxu"

..., because it allows all wovels in any order in the word, if there is
one possible grouping with the wanted ordering - The subpattern "a.*?e"
for example allows any number of "a"s, "i"s, "o"s, and "u"s between the
"a" and the "e".

--
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/

try something like:
/a+[^a]*e+[^ae]*i+[^aei]*o+[^aeio]*u+/

···

On Jan 16, 2008 8:03 PM, Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner <ed.odanow@wonado.de> wrote:

Rick Denatale wrote:
> Something like this?
> irb(main):001:0> "frabelious" =~ /a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/
> => 2

This doesn't work as expected...

irb(main):001:0> "xaxxixxexxixxuxxoxxuxx".match(/a.*?e.*?i.*?o.*?u/)[0]
=> "axxixxexxixxuxxoxxu"

..., because it allows all wovels in any order in the word, if there is
one possible grouping with the wanted ordering - The subpattern "a.*?e"
for example allows any number of "a"s, "i"s, "o"s, and "u"s between the
"a" and the "e".

Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner
--

Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

Yikes!

That's clever though my brain copes better with this halfway house:

   consonant = /[^aeiou]/
   re = /#{consonant}*a#{consonant}*e#{consonant}*i#{consonant}*o#{consonant}*u#{consonant}*/

Or, perhaps, in-between the in-betweens:

   vowels = %w( a e i o u )
   consonant = '[^aeiou]'
   re = /#{vowels.push('').unshift('').join("#{consonant}*")}/

Regards,
Andy Stewart

···

On 16 Jan 2008, at 22:19, Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner wrote:

Andrew Stewart wrote:

You can see there's a lot of repetition in the regular expression so
the next step would probably be to DRY it.

O.K. - it really increases the readability :wink:

re = Regexp.compile((v=p='')+"^#{p="[^#{v='aeiou'}]*"}"+v.split('').
     join("[^#{v}]*")+p+'$')
p re # =>
/^[^aeiou]*a[^aeiou]*e[^aeiou]*i[^aeiou]*o[^aeiou]*u[^aeiou]*$/

-------

Rick Denatale wrote:

I really posted my "solution" to drive out what he really wanted.
Kind of a test-driven approach.

Oh - I see. Let's wait for the more complete specification :wink:

Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner

···

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