In Files

  • re.c

Regexp

A Regexp holds a regular expression, used to match a pattern against strings. Regexps are created using the /.../ and %r{...} literals, and by the Regexp::new constructor.

Public Class Methods

compile(*args) click to toggle source

Synonym for Regexp.new

escape(str) => string click to toggle source

Escapes any characters that would have special meaning in a regular expression. Returns a new escaped string, or self if no characters are escaped. For any string, Regexp.new(Regexp.escape(str))=~str will be true.

Regexp.escape('\*?{}.')   #=> \\\*\?\{\}\.

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_s_quote(VALUE c, VALUE str)
{
    return rb_reg_quote(reg_operand(str, Qtrue));
}
last_match => matchdata click to toggle source
last_match(n) => str

The first form returns the MatchData object generated by the last successful pattern match. Equivalent to reading the global variable $~. The second form returns the nth field in this MatchData object. n can be a string or symbol to reference a named capture.

/c(.)t/ =~ 'cat'        #=> 0
Regexp.last_match       #=> #<MatchData "cat" 1:"a">
Regexp.last_match(0)    #=> "cat"
Regexp.last_match(1)    #=> "a"
Regexp.last_match(2)    #=> nil

/(?<lhs>\w+)\s*=\s*(?<rhs>\w+)/ =~ "var = val"
Regexp.last_match       #=> #<MatchData "var = val" lhs:"var" rhs:"val">
Regexp.last_match(:lhs) #=> "var"
Regexp.last_match(:rhs) #=> "val"

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_s_last_match(int argc, VALUE *argv)
{
    VALUE nth;

    if (argc > 0 && rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "01", &nth) == 1) {
        VALUE match = rb_backref_get();
        int n;
        if (NIL_P(match)) return Qnil;
        n = match_backref_number(match, nth);
        return rb_reg_nth_match(n, match);
    }
    return match_getter();
}
new(string [, options]) => regexp click to toggle source
new(regexp) => regexp
compile(string [, options]) => regexp
compile(regexp) => regexp

Constructs a new regular expression from pattern, which can be either a String or a Regexp (in which case that regexp's options are propagated, and new options may not be specified (a change as of Ruby 1.8). If options is a Fixnum, it should be one or more of the constants Regexp::EXTENDED, Regexp::IGNORECASE, and Regexp::MULTILINE, or-ed together. Otherwise, if options is not nil, the regexp will be case insensitive.

r1 = Regexp.new('^a-z+:\\s+\w+')           #=> /^a-z+:\s+\w+/
r2 = Regexp.new('cat', true)               #=> /cat/i
r3 = Regexp.new('dog', Regexp::EXTENDED)   #=> /dog/x
r4 = Regexp.new(r2)                        #=> /cat/i

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_initialize_m(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
{
    onig_errmsg_buffer err = "";
    int flags = 0;
    VALUE str;
    rb_encoding *enc;
    const char *ptr;
    long len;

    if (argc == 0 || argc > 3) {
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "wrong number of arguments");
    }
    if (TYPE(argv[0]) == T_REGEXP) {
        VALUE re = argv[0];

        if (argc > 1) {
            rb_warn("flags ignored");
        }
        rb_reg_check(re);
        flags = rb_reg_options(re);
        ptr = RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re);
        len = RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re);
        enc = rb_enc_get(re);
        if (rb_reg_initialize(self, ptr, len, enc, flags, err)) {
            str = rb_enc_str_new(ptr, len, enc);
            rb_reg_raise_str(str, flags, err);
        }
    }
    else {
        if (argc >= 2) {
            if (FIXNUM_P(argv[1])) flags = FIX2INT(argv[1]);
            else if (RTEST(argv[1])) flags = ONIG_OPTION_IGNORECASE;
        }
        enc = 0;
        if (argc == 3 && !NIL_P(argv[2])) {
            char *kcode = StringValuePtr(argv[2]);
            if (kcode[0] == 'n' || kcode[1] == 'N') {
                enc = rb_ascii8bit_encoding();
                flags |= ARG_ENCODING_NONE;
            }
            else {
                rb_warn("encoding option is ignored - %s", kcode);
            }
        }
        str = argv[0];
        ptr = StringValuePtr(str);
        if (enc
            ? rb_reg_initialize(self, ptr, RSTRING_LEN(str), enc, flags, err)
            : rb_reg_initialize_str(self, str, flags, err)) {
            rb_reg_raise_str(str, flags, err);
        }
    }
    return self;
}
quote(str) => string click to toggle source

Escapes any characters that would have special meaning in a regular expression. Returns a new escaped string, or self if no characters are escaped. For any string, Regexp.new(Regexp.escape(str))=~str will be true.

Regexp.escape('\*?{}.')   #=> \\\*\?\{\}\.

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_s_quote(VALUE c, VALUE str)
{
    return rb_reg_quote(reg_operand(str, Qtrue));
}
try_convert(obj) → re or nil click to toggle source

Try to convert obj into a Regexp, using to_regexp method. Returns converted regexp or nil if obj cannot be converted for any reason.

Regexp.try_convert(/re/)         #=> /re/
Regexp.try_convert("re")         #=> nil

o = Object.new
Regexp.try_convert(o)            #=> nil
def o.to_regexp() /foo/ end
Regexp.try_convert(o)            #=> /foo/

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_s_try_convert(VALUE dummy, VALUE re)
{
    return rb_check_regexp_type(re);
}
union(pat1, pat2, ...) => new_regexp click to toggle source
union(pats_ary) => new_regexp

Return a Regexp object that is the union of the given patterns, i.e., will match any of its parts. The patterns can be Regexp objects, in which case their options will be preserved, or Strings. If no patterns are given, returns /(?!)/.

Regexp.union                         #=> /(?!)/
Regexp.union("penzance")             #=> /penzance/
Regexp.union("a+b*c")                #=> /a\+b\*c/
Regexp.union("skiing", "sledding")   #=> /skiing|sledding/
Regexp.union(["skiing", "sledding"]) #=> /skiing|sledding/
Regexp.union(/dogs/, /cats/i)        #=> /(?-mix:dogs)|(?i-mx:cats)/

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_s_union_m(VALUE self, VALUE args)
{
    VALUE v;
    if (RARRAY_LEN(args) == 1 &&
        !NIL_P(v = rb_check_array_type(rb_ary_entry(args, 0)))) {
        return rb_reg_s_union(self, v);
    }
    return rb_reg_s_union(self, args);
}

Public Instance Methods

rxp == other_rxp => true or false click to toggle source

Equality—Two regexps are equal if their patterns are identical, they have the same character set code, and their casefold? values are the same.

/abc/  == /abc/x   #=> false
/abc/  == /abc/i   #=> false
/abc/  == /abc/n   #=> false
/abc/u == /abc/n   #=> false

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_equal(VALUE re1, VALUE re2)
{
    if (re1 == re2) return Qtrue;
    if (TYPE(re2) != T_REGEXP) return Qfalse;
    rb_reg_check(re1); rb_reg_check(re2);
    if (FL_TEST(re1, KCODE_FIXED) != FL_TEST(re2, KCODE_FIXED)) return Qfalse;
    if (RREGEXP(re1)->ptr->options != RREGEXP(re2)->ptr->options) return Qfalse;
    if (RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re1) != RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re2)) return Qfalse;
    if (ENCODING_GET(re1) != ENCODING_GET(re2)) return Qfalse;
    if (memcmp(RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re1), RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re2), RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re1)) == 0) {
        return Qtrue;
    }
    return Qfalse;
}
rxp === str => true or false click to toggle source

Case Equality—Synonym for Regexp#=~ used in case statements.

a = "HELLO"
case a
when /^[a-z]*$/; print "Lower case\n"
when /^[A-Z]*$/; print "Upper case\n"
else;            print "Mixed case\n"
end

produces:

Upper case
 
               VALUE
rb_reg_eqq(VALUE re, VALUE str)
{
    long start;

    str = reg_operand(str, Qfalse);
    if (NIL_P(str)) {
        rb_backref_set(Qnil);
        return Qfalse;
    }
    start = rb_reg_search(re, str, 0, 0);
    if (start < 0) {
        return Qfalse;
    }
    return Qtrue;
}
rxp =~ str => integer or nil click to toggle source

Match—Matches rxp against str.

/at/ =~ "input data"   #=> 7
/ax/ =~ "input data"   #=> nil

If =~ is used with a regexp literal with named captures, captured strings (or nil) is assigned to local variables named by the capture names.

/(?<lhs>\w+)\s*=\s*(?<rhs>\w+)/ =~ "  x = y  "
p lhs    #=> "x"
p rhs    #=> "y"

If it is not matched, nil is assigned for the variables.

/(?<lhs>\w+)\s*=\s*(?<rhs>\w+)/ =~ "  x = "   
p lhs    #=> nil
p rhs    #=> nil

This assignment is implemented in the Ruby parser. The parser detects 'regexp-literal =~ expression' for the assignment. The regexp must be a literal without interpolation and placed at left hand side.

The assignment is not occur if the regexp is not a literal.

re = /(?<lhs>\w+)\s*=\s*(?<rhs>\w+)/
re =~ "  x = y  "
p lhs    # undefined local variable
p rhs    # undefined local variable

A regexp interpolation, #{}, also disables the assignment.

rhs_pat = /(?<rhs>\w+)/
/(?<lhs>\w+)\s*=\s*#{rhs_pat}/ =~ "x = y"
p lhs    # undefined local variable

The assignment is not occur if the regexp is placed at right hand side.

"  x = y  " =~ /(?<lhs>\w+)\s*=\s*(?<rhs>\w+)/
p lhs, rhs # undefined local variable

 
               VALUE
rb_reg_match(VALUE re, VALUE str)
{
    long pos = reg_match_pos(re, &str, 0);
    if (pos < 0) return Qnil;
    pos = rb_str_sublen(str, pos);
    return LONG2FIX(pos);
}
casefold? => true or false click to toggle source

Returns the value of the case-insensitive flag.

/a/.casefold?           #=> false
/a/i.casefold?          #=> true
/(?i:a)/.casefold?      #=> false

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_casefold_p(VALUE re)
{
    rb_reg_check(re);
    if (RREGEXP(re)->ptr->options & ONIG_OPTION_IGNORECASE) return Qtrue;
    return Qfalse;
}
encoding => encoding click to toggle source

Returns the Encoding object that represents the encoding of obj.

 
               VALUE
rb_obj_encoding(VALUE obj)
{
    rb_encoding *enc = rb_enc_get(obj);
    if (!enc) {
	rb_raise(rb_eTypeError, "unknown encoding");
    }
    return rb_enc_from_encoding(enc);
}
eql?(other_rxp) => true or false click to toggle source

Equality—Two regexps are equal if their patterns are identical, they have the same character set code, and their casefold? values are the same.

/abc/  == /abc/x   #=> false
/abc/  == /abc/i   #=> false
/abc/  == /abc/n   #=> false
/abc/u == /abc/n   #=> false

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_equal(VALUE re1, VALUE re2)
{
    if (re1 == re2) return Qtrue;
    if (TYPE(re2) != T_REGEXP) return Qfalse;
    rb_reg_check(re1); rb_reg_check(re2);
    if (FL_TEST(re1, KCODE_FIXED) != FL_TEST(re2, KCODE_FIXED)) return Qfalse;
    if (RREGEXP(re1)->ptr->options != RREGEXP(re2)->ptr->options) return Qfalse;
    if (RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re1) != RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re2)) return Qfalse;
    if (ENCODING_GET(re1) != ENCODING_GET(re2)) return Qfalse;
    if (memcmp(RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re1), RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re2), RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re1)) == 0) {
        return Qtrue;
    }
    return Qfalse;
}
fixed_encoding? => true or false click to toggle source

Returns false if rxp is applicable to a string with any ASCII compatible encoding. Returns true otherwise.

r = /a/
r.fixed_encoding?                               #=> false
r =~ "\u{6666} a"                               #=> 2
r =~ "\xa1\xa2 a".force_encoding("euc-jp")      #=> 2
r =~ "abc".force_encoding("euc-jp")             #=> 0

r = /a/u
r.fixed_encoding?                               #=> true
r.encoding                                      #=> #<Encoding:UTF-8>
r =~ "\u{6666} a"                               #=> 2
r =~ "\xa1\xa2".force_encoding("euc-jp")        #=> ArgumentError
r =~ "abc".force_encoding("euc-jp")             #=> 0

r = /\u{6666}/
r.fixed_encoding?                               #=> true
r.encoding                                      #=> #<Encoding:UTF-8>
r =~ "\u{6666} a"                               #=> 0
r =~ "\xa1\xa2".force_encoding("euc-jp")        #=> ArgumentError
r =~ "abc".force_encoding("euc-jp")             #=> nil

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_fixed_encoding_p(VALUE re)
{
    if (FL_TEST(re, KCODE_FIXED))
        return Qtrue;
    else
        return Qfalse;
}
hash => fixnum click to toggle source

Produce a hash based on the text and options of this regular expression.

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_hash(VALUE re)
{
    int hashval, len;
    char *p;

    rb_reg_check(re);
    hashval = RREGEXP(re)->ptr->options;
    len = RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re);
    p  = RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re);
    while (len--) {
        hashval = hashval * 33 + *p++;
    }
    hashval = hashval + (hashval>>5);

    return INT2FIX(hashval);
}
inspect => string click to toggle source

Produce a nicely formatted string-version of rxp. Perhaps surprisingly, #inspect actually produces the more natural version of the string than #to_s.

/ab+c/ix.inspect        #=> "/ab+c/ix"

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_inspect(VALUE re)
{
    if (!RREGEXP(re)->ptr || !RREGEXP_SRC(re) || !RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re)) {
        return rb_any_to_s(re);
    }
    return rb_reg_desc(RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re), RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re), re);
}
match(str) => matchdata or nil click to toggle source
match(str,pos) => matchdata or nil

Returns a MatchData object describing the match, or nil if there was no match. This is equivalent to retrieving the value of the special variable $~ following a normal match. If the second parameter is present, it specifies the position in the string to begin the search.

/(.)(.)(.)/.match("abc")[2]   #=> "b"
/(.)(.)/.match("abc", 1)[2]   #=> "c"

If a block is given, invoke the block with MatchData if match succeed, so that you can write

pat.match(str) {|m| ...}

instead of

if m = pat.match(str)
  ...
end

The return value is a value from block execution in this case.

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_match_m(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE re)
{
    VALUE result, str, initpos;
    long pos;

    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &str, &initpos) == 2) {
        pos = NUM2LONG(initpos);
    }
    else {
        pos = 0;
    }

    pos = reg_match_pos(re, &str, pos);
    if (pos < 0) {
        rb_backref_set(Qnil);
        return Qnil;
    }
    result = rb_backref_get();
    rb_match_busy(result);
    if (!NIL_P(result) && rb_block_given_p()) {
        return rb_yield(result);
    }
    return result;
}
named_captures => hash click to toggle source

Returns a hash representing information about named captures of rxp.

A key of the hash is a name of the named captures. A value of the hash is an array which is list of indexes of corresponding named captures.

/(?<foo>.)(?<bar>.)/.named_captures
#=> {"foo"=>[1], "bar"=>[2]}

/(?<foo>.)(?<foo>.)/.named_captures
#=> {"foo"=>[1, 2]}

If there are no named captures, an empty hash is returned.

/(.)(.)/.named_captures
#=> {}

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_named_captures(VALUE re)
{
    VALUE hash = rb_hash_new();
    rb_reg_check(re);
    onig_foreach_name(RREGEXP(re)->ptr, reg_named_captures_iter, (void*)hash);
    return hash;
}
names => [name1, name2, ...] click to toggle source

Returns a list of names of captures as an array of strings.

/(?<foo>.)(?<bar>.)(?<baz>.)/.names
#=> ["foo", "bar", "baz"]

/(?<foo>.)(?<foo>.)/.names
#=> ["foo"]

/(.)(.)/.names
#=> []

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_names(VALUE re)
{
    VALUE ary = rb_ary_new();
    rb_reg_check(re);
    onig_foreach_name(RREGEXP(re)->ptr, reg_names_iter, (void*)ary);
    return ary;
}
options => fixnum click to toggle source

Returns the set of bits corresponding to the options used when creating this Regexp (see Regexp::new for details. Note that additional bits may be set in the returned options: these are used internally by the regular expression code. These extra bits are ignored if the options are passed to Regexp::new.

Regexp::IGNORECASE                  #=> 1
Regexp::EXTENDED                    #=> 2
Regexp::MULTILINE                   #=> 4

/cat/.options                       #=> 0
/cat/ix.options                     #=> 3
Regexp.new('cat', true).options     #=> 1
/\xa1\xa2/e.options                 #=> 16

r = /cat/ix
Regexp.new(r.source, r.options)     #=> /cat/ix

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_options_m(VALUE re)
{
    int options = rb_reg_options(re);
    return INT2NUM(options);
}
source => str click to toggle source

Returns the original string of the pattern.

/ab+c/ix.source #=> "ab+c"

Note that escape sequences are retained as is.

/\x20\+/.source  #=> "\\x20\\+"

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_source(VALUE re)
{
    VALUE str;

    rb_reg_check(re);
    str = rb_enc_str_new(RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re),RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re), rb_enc_get(re));
    if (OBJ_TAINTED(re)) OBJ_TAINT(str);
    return str;
}
to_s => str click to toggle source

Returns a string containing the regular expression and its options (using the (?opts:source) notation. This string can be fed back in to Regexp::new to a regular expression with the same semantics as the original. (However, Regexp#== may not return true when comparing the two, as the source of the regular expression itself may differ, as the example shows). Regexp#inspect produces a generally more readable version of rxp.

r1 = /ab+c/ix           #=> /ab+c/ix
s1 = r1.to_s            #=> "(?ix-m:ab+c)"
r2 = Regexp.new(s1)     #=> /(?ix-m:ab+c)/
r1 == r2                #=> false
r1.source               #=> "ab+c"
r2.source               #=> "(?ix-m:ab+c)"

 
               static VALUE
rb_reg_to_s(VALUE re)
{
    int options, opt;
    const int embeddable = ONIG_OPTION_MULTILINE|ONIG_OPTION_IGNORECASE|ONIG_OPTION_EXTEND;
    long len;
    const UChar* ptr;
    VALUE str = rb_str_buf_new2("(?");
    char optbuf[5];

    rb_reg_check(re);

    rb_enc_copy(str, re);
    options = RREGEXP(re)->ptr->options;
    ptr = (UChar*)RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re);
    len = RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re);
  again:
    if (len >= 4 && ptr[0] == '(' && ptr[1] == '?') {
        int err = 1;
        ptr += 2;
        if ((len -= 2) > 0) {
            do {
                opt = char_to_option((int )*ptr);
                if (opt != 0) {
                    options |= opt;
                }
                else {
                    break;
                }
                ++ptr;
            } while (--len > 0);
        }
        if (len > 1 && *ptr == '-') {
            ++ptr;
            --len;
            do {
                opt = char_to_option((int )*ptr);
                if (opt != 0) {
                    options &= ~opt;
                }
                else {
                    break;
                }
                ++ptr;
            } while (--len > 0);
        }
        if (*ptr == ')') {
            --len;
            ++ptr;
            goto again;
        }
        if (*ptr == ':' && ptr[len-1] == ')') {
            int r;
            Regexp *rp;
            r = onig_alloc_init(&rp, ONIG_OPTION_DEFAULT,
                                ONIGENC_CASE_FOLD_DEFAULT,
                                rb_enc_get(re),
                                OnigDefaultSyntax);
            if (r == 0) {
                 ++ptr;
                 len -= 2;
                 err = (onig_compile(rp, ptr, ptr + len, NULL) != 0);
            }
            onig_free(rp);
        }
        if (err) {
            options = RREGEXP(re)->ptr->options;
            ptr = (UChar*)RREGEXP_SRC_PTR(re);
            len = RREGEXP_SRC_LEN(re);
        }
    }

    if (*option_to_str(optbuf, options)) rb_str_buf_cat2(str, optbuf);

    if ((options & embeddable) != embeddable) {
        optbuf[0] = '-';
        option_to_str(optbuf + 1, ~options);
        rb_str_buf_cat2(str, optbuf);
    }

    rb_str_buf_cat2(str, ":");
    rb_reg_expr_str(str, (char*)ptr, len);
    rb_str_buf_cat2(str, ")");
    rb_enc_copy(str, re);

    OBJ_INFECT(str, re);
    return str;
}
~ rxp => integer or nil click to toggle source

Match—Matches rxp against the contents of $_. Equivalent to rxp =~ $_.

$_ = "input data"
~ /at/   #=> 7

 
               VALUE
rb_reg_match2(VALUE re)
{
    long start;
    VALUE line = rb_lastline_get();

    if (TYPE(line) != T_STRING) {
        rb_backref_set(Qnil);
        return Qnil;
    }

    start = rb_reg_search(re, line, 0, 0);
    if (start < 0) {
        return Qnil;
    }
    start = rb_str_sublen(line, start);
    return LONG2FIX(start);
}