The following code from a book is supposed to transfer "FOO92OBAR" to "FOO92_O_BAR":
gsub(/([a-z\d])([A-Z])/, '\1_\2')
Can anyone explain how this works?
([a-z\d]) looks for a lowercase letter (a-z) or a number (\d means a digit). The () around the whole thing assign the result to regex subgroup 1.
([A-Z]) then looks for an uppercase letter, assigning the result to group 2. So the whole thing looks for a lowercase-or-digit followed by an uppercase letter. The second part, '\1_\2', means "regex group 1 followed by regex group 2"
gsub replaces every time it sees a lowercase-or-digit followed by an uppercase letter with (the first thing)_(the second thing).
So actually FOO92OBAR will be FOO92_OBAR.
For FOO92OBAR to become FOO92_O_BAR, the replace part should be '\1_\2_' (since only the O is the second part.. BAR is not matched, so not replaced at all).
It works using regular expressions.
The two parameters of gsub are the match expression and the replacement. Because the match /([a-z\d])([A-Z])/ contains groups (identified by (...)), then you can reference a match in the replacement using \ID where the ID is the number of the group, starting from 1.
That said, the code gsub(/([a-z\d])([A-Z])/, '\1_\2')
# take any combination of
([a-z\d])([A-Z])
# which means any combinations of a (1) lower-case char or (2) digit
([a-z\d])
# followed by an (1) upper case letter
([A-Z])
# if any, replace it with
\1_\2
# that represents the first group
\1
# followed by _
# followed by the second group
\2
Please note that your example will generate FOO92_OBAR, not FOO92_O_BAR
2.1.5 :001 > string = "FOO92OBAR"
=> "FOO92OBAR"
2.1.5 :002 > string.gsub(/([a-z\d])([A-Z])/, '\1_\2')
=> "FOO92_OBAR"
The explanation is because there is only one case of a "lower-case char or digit" (and that is a digit) followed by an upper case char.
2.1.5 :003 > string.scan(/([a-z\d])([A-Z])/)
=> [["2", "O"]]
Regular expressions are case sensitive by default.
Related
I am currently working on a ruby program to calculate terms. It works perfectly fine except for one thing: brackets. I need to filter the content or at least, to put the content into an array, but I have tried for an hour to come up with a solution. Here is my code:
splitted = term.split(/\(+|\)+/)
I need an array instead of the brackets, for example:
"1-(2+3)" #=>["1", "-", ["2", "+", "3"]]
I already tried this:
/(\((?<=.*)\))/
but it returned:
Invalid pattern in look-behind.
Can someone help me with this?
UPDATE
I forgot to mention, that my program will split the term, I only need the content of the brackets to be an array.
If you need to keep track of the hierarchy of parentheses with arrays, you won't manage it just with regular expressions. You'll need to parse the string word by word, and keep a stack of expressions.
Pseudocode:
Expressions = new stack
Add new array on stack
while word in string:
if word is "(": Add new array on stack
Else if word is ")": Remove the last array from the stack and add it to the (next) last array of the stack
Else: Add the word to the last array of the stack
When exiting the loop, there should be only one array in the stack (if not, you have inconsistent opening/closing parentheses).
Note: If your ultimate goal is to evaluate the expression, you could save time and parse the string in Postfix aka Reverse-Polish Notation.
Also consider using off-the-shelf libraries.
A solution depends on the pattern you expect between the parentheses, which you have not specified. (For example, for "(st12uv)" you might want ["st", "12", "uv"], ["st12", "uv"], ["st1", "2uv"] and so on). If, as in your example, it is a natural number followed by a +, followed by another natural number, you could do this:
str = "1-( 2+ 3)"
r = /
\(\s* # match a left parenthesis followed by >= 0 whitespace chars
(\d+) # match one or more digits in a capture group
\s* # match >= 0 whitespace chars
(\+) # match a plus sign in a capture group
\s* # match >= 0 whitespace chars
(\d+) # match one or more digits in a capture group
\s* # match >= 0 whitespace chars
\) # match a right parenthesis
/x
str.scan(r0).first
=> ["2", "+", "3"]
Suppose instead + could be +, -, * or /. Then you could change:
(\+)
to:
([-+*\/])
Note that, in a character class, + needn't be escaped and - needn't be escaped if it is the first or last character of the class (as in those cases it would not signify a range).
Incidentally, you received the error message, "Invalid pattern in look-behind" because Ruby's lookarounds cannot contain variable-length matches (i.e., .*). With positive lookbehinds you can get around that by using \K instead. For example,
r = /
\d+ # match one or more digits
\K # forget everything previously matched
[a-z]+ # match one or more lowercase letters
/x
"123abc"[r] #=> "abc"
I'm trying to learn ruby and having a hard time figuring out what each individual part of this code is doing. Specifically, how does the global subbing determine whether two sequential numbers are both one of these values [13579] and how does it add a dash (-) in between them?
def DashInsert(num)
num_str = num.to_s
num_str.gsub(/([13579])(?=[13579])/, '\1-')
end
num_str.gsub(/([13579])(?=[13579])/, '\1-')
() called capturing group, which captures the characters matched by the pattern present inside the capturing group. So the pattern present inside the capturing group is [13579] which matches a single digit from the given set of digits. That corresponding digit was captured and stored inside index 1.
(?=[13579]) Positive lookahead which asserts that the match must be followed by the character or string matched by the pattern inside the lookahead. Replacement will occur only if this condition is satisfied.
\1 refers the characters which are present inside the group index 1.
Example:
> "13".gsub(/([13579])(?=[13579])/, '\1-')
=> "1-3"
You may start with some random tests:
def DashInsert(num)
num_str = num.to_s
num_str.gsub(/([13579])(?=[13579])/, '\1-')
end
10.times{
x = rand(10000)
puts "%6i: %6s" % [x,DashInsert(x)]
}
Example:
9633: 963-3
7774: 7-7-74
6826: 6826
7386: 7-386
2145: 2145
7806: 7806
9499: 949-9
4117: 41-1-7
4920: 4920
14: 14
And now to check the regex.
([13579]) take any odd number and remember it (it can be used later with \1
(?=[13579]) Check if the next number is also odd, but don't take it (it still remains in the string)
'\1-' Output the first odd num and ab a - to it.
In other word:
Puts a - between each two odds numbers.
I don't think I'll even try to explain this, I don't know the words to, but I'd like to achieve the following:
Given a string like this:
+++>><<<--
I'd like a match to give me: +++, but also match if any of the other characters were in the string consecutively like they are. So if the +++ wasn't there, I'd like to match >>.
I tried using the following regular expression:
([><\-\+]+)
However, given the string above, it would match the entire string, and not the first list of consecutive characters.
If it makes a difference, this is in Ruby (1.9.3).
Not sure about the ruby bit, but you can do this with backreferences in the pattern:
(.)\1+
What this does is to use a capturing group () to capture any character . followed by any number + of the same character \1. The \1 is a backreference to the the first captured group; in a pattern with more capturing groups \2 would be the second captured group and so on.
Java Example
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("(.)\\1+");
Matcher m = p.matcher("aaabbccaa");
m.find();
System.out.println(m.group(0)); // prints "aaa"
Ruby Example
# Return an array of matched patterns.
string = '+++>><<<--'
string.scan( /((.)\2+)/ ).collect { |match| match.first }
I have a string like this:
http://www.example.com/value/1234/different-value
How can I extract the 1234?
Note: There may be a slash at the end:
http://www.example.com/value/1234/different-value
http://www.example.com/value/1234/different-value/
/([^/]+)(?=/[^/]+/?$)
should work. You might need to format it differently according to the language you're using. For example, in Ruby, it's
if subject =~ /\/([^\/]+)(?=\/[^\/]+\/?\Z)/
match = $~[1]
else
match = ""
end
Use Slice for Positional Extraction
If you always want to extract the 4th element (including the scheme) from a URI, and are confident that your data is regular, you can use Array#slice as follows.
'http://www.example.com/value/1234/different-value'.split('/').slice 4
#=> "1234"
'http://www.example.com/value/1234/different-value/'.split('/').slice 4
#=> "1234"
This will work reliably whether there's a trailing slash or not, whether or not you have more than 4 elements after the split, and whether or not that fourth element is always strictly numeric. It works because it's based on the element's position within the path, rather than on the contents of the element. However, you will end up with nil if you attempt to parse a URI with fewer elements such as http://www.example.com/1234/.
Use Scan/Match for Pattern Extraction
Alternatively, if you know that the element you're looking for is always the only one composed entirely of digits, you can use String#match with look-arounds to extract just the numeric portion of the string.
'http://www.example.com/value/1234/different-value'.match %r{(?<=/)\d+(?=/)}
#=> #<MatchData "1234">
$&
#=> "1234"
The look-behind and look-ahead assertions are needed to anchor the expression to a path. Without them, you'll match things like w3.example.com too. This solution is a better approach if the position of the target element may change, and if you can guarantee that your element of interest will be the only one that matches the anchored regex.
If there will be more than one match (e.g. http://www.example.com/1234/5678/) then you might want to use String#scan instead to select the first or last match. This is one of those "know your data" things; if you have irregular data, then regular expressions aren't always the best choice.
Javascript:
var myregexp = /:\/\/.*?\/.*?\/(\d+)/;
var match = myregexp.exec(subject);
if (match != null) {
result = match[1];
}
Works with your examples... But I am sure it will fail in general...
Ruby edit:
if subject =~ /:\/\/.*?\/.*?\/(.+?)\//
match = $~[1]
It does work.
I think this is a little simpler than the accepted answer, because it doesn't use any positive lookahead (?=), but rather simply makes the last slash optional via the ? character:
^.+\/(.+)\/.+\/?$
In Ruby:
STDIN.read.split("\n").each do |nextline|
if nextline =~ /^.+\/(.+)\/.+\/?$/
printf("matched %s in %s\n", $~[1], nextline);
else
puts "no match"
end
end
Live Demo
Let's break down what's happening:
^: start of the line
.+\/: match anything (greedily) up to a slash
Since we're going to later match at least 1, at most 2 more slashes, this slash will be either the second last slash (as in http://www.example.com/value/1234/different-value) or the third last slash as in (http://www.example.com/value/1234/different-value/)
Up to this point we've matched http://www.example.com/value/ (due to greediness)
(.+)\/: Our capturing group for 1234 indicated by the parenthesis. It's anything followed by another slash.
Since the previous match matched up to the second or third last slash, this will match up to the last slash or second last slash, respectively
.+: match anything. This would be after our 1234, so we're assuming there are characters after 1234/ (different-value)
\/?: optionally match another slash (the slash after different-value)
$: match the end of the line
Note that in a url, you probably won't have spaces. I used the . character because it's easily distinguished, but perhaps you might use \S instead to match non-spaces.
Also, you might use \A instead of ^ to match start of string (instead of after line break) and \Z instead of $ to match end of string (instead of at line break)
I have a string like "{some|words|are|here}" or "{another|set|of|words}"
So in general the string consists of an opening curly bracket,words delimited by a pipe and a closing curly bracket.
What is the most efficient way to get the selected word of that string ?
I would like do something like this:
#my_string = "{this|is|a|test|case}"
#my_string.get_column(0) # => "this"
#my_string.get_column(2) # => "is"
#my_string.get_column(4) # => "case"
What should the method get_column contain ?
So this is the solution I like right now:
class String
def get_column(n)
self =~ /\A\{(?:\w*\|){#{n}}(\w*)(?:\|\w*)*\}\Z/ && $1
end
end
We use a regular expression to make sure that the string is of the correct format, while simultaneously grabbing the correct column.
Explanation of regex:
\A is the beginnning of the string and \Z is the end, so this regex matches the enitre string.
Since curly braces have a special meaning we escape them as \{ and \} to match the curly braces at the beginning and end of the string.
next, we want to skip the first n columns - we don't care about them.
A previous column is some number of letters followed by a vertical bar, so we use the standard \w to match a word-like character (includes numbers and underscore, but why not) and * to match any number of them. Vertical bar has a special meaning, so we have to escape it as \|. Since we want to group this, we enclose it all inside non-capturing parens (?:\w*\|) (the ?: makes it non-capturing).
Now we have n of the previous columns, so we tell the regex to match the column pattern n times using the count regex - just put a number in curly braces after a pattern. We use standard string substition, so we just put in {#{n}} to mean "match the previous pattern exactly n times.
the first non skipped column after that is the one we care about, so we put that in capturing parens: (\w*)
then we skip the rest of the columns, if any exist: (?:\|\w*)*.
Capturing the column puts it into $1, so we return that value if the regex matched. If not, we return nil, since this String has no nth column.
In general, if you wanted to have more than just words in your columns (like "{a phrase or two|don't forget about punctuation!|maybe some longer strings that have\na newline or two?}"), then just replace all the \w in the regex with [^|{}] so you can have each column contain anything except a curly-brace or a vertical bar.
Here's my previous solution
class String
def get_column(n)
raise "not a column string" unless self =~ /\A\{\w*(?:\|\w*)*\}\Z/
self[1 .. -2].split('|')[n]
end
end
We use a similar regex to make sure the String contains a set of columns or raise an error. Then we strip the curly braces from the front and back (using self[1 .. -2] to limit to the substring starting at the first character and ending at the next to last), split the columns using the pipe character (using .split('|') to create an array of columns), and then find the n'th column (using standard Array lookup with [n]).
I just figured as long as I was using the regex to verify the string, I might as well use it to capture the column.