# Newby Ruby Regular Expression Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [June 12, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newby-ruby-regular-expression-question/140266 "2008-06-12T12:50:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ruchira_B)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newby-ruby-regular-expression-question/140266/1 "2008-06-12T12:50:25Z")
Dear Expert, I have recently started Ruby programming. I have used Perl before and liked it mostly due to the power of regular expressions. But Ruby’s ability scale and modularize is absolutely amazing. I want to find FOUR instances of A in the string “AaAbAcAd” using regular expressions. I tried str = “AaAbAcAd” md = str.match(/(A)/) and get just one instance (seems like the last ‘A’) The perl equivalent of what I really want is $str = “AaAbAcAd” @md = ($str =~ /A/g) So what I really want to find out is if there is something equivalent to the Perl g option available in Ruby. How would you get all FOUR matches in a reasonable way? Thanks in advance. Ruchira ---
**Author:** ![Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ruchira_B)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newby-ruby-regular-expression-question/140266/2 "2008-06-12T13:00:33Z")
On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 12:44 PM, Ruchira B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > and get just one instance (seems like the last ‘A’) > > The perl equivalent of what I really want is > > $str = “AaAbAcAd” > @md = ($str =~ /A/g) maybe String#scan does the same, sorry my perl times are too remote str = “AaAbAcAd” md = str.scan /A/ HTH Robert – [http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/](http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/) * * * As simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein ---
**Author:** ![Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ruchira_B)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newby-ruby-regular-expression-question/140266/3 "2008-06-12T13:30:38Z")
Hi – On Thu, 12 Jun 2008, Ruchira B. wrote: > So what I really want to find out is if there is something equivalent > to the Perl g option available in Ruby. How would you get all FOUR > matches in a reasonable way? str.scan(/A/). I can’t help wondering though… what made you think that the A you got is the last A? (It’s actually the first A.) David ---
**Author:** ![Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ruchira_B)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newby-ruby-regular-expression-question/140266/4 "2008-06-12T15:28:26Z")
On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 1:29 PM, David A. Black [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > str.scan(/A/). > Hey it does not only happen to Rick, it happens to me too;) > Does this mean I am one of the best? > – > [http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/](http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/) * * * As simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein ---
**Author:** ![Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Ruchira\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ruchira_B)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newby-ruby-regular-expression-question/140266/5 "2008-06-12T17:46:12Z")
On Jun 12, 6:26 pm, Robert D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 1:29 PM, David A. Black [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > \> str.scan(/A/). > > Hey it does not only happen to Rick, it happens to me too;) > Does this mean I am one of the best? > –[http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/](http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/) > > * * * > > As simple as possible, but not simpler. > Albert Einstein Thanks Robert, str.scan(/A/) does what I wanted. Sorry for the confusion with the last A issue. I was messing with various regex patterns and some of them were greedy enough, took some of my brain cells away and made me think stupid things. But str.scan(/A/) has made me regain my faith in ruby’s regular expressions. Not that I was particularly skeptic, but was merely stuck! Thanks again. Ruchira