# Regexp Ruby selection **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [July 25, 2008, 9:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regexp-ruby-selection/144091 "2008-07-25T09:45:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regexp-ruby-selection/144091/1 "2008-07-25T09:45:54Z")
Hi folks, I’m trying to code a ruby script that select the content of a HTML table in a HTML page. I used rubular to test my regexp syntax which is / \]_\>(._)  / with rubular the result of my expression is : Result 1 1. 12345678 Result 2 2. SAN FRANCESCO DA PAOLA Result 3 3. Via San Francesco Da Paola, 10 Result 4 4. 10123 Result 5 5. TORINO etc… But with my script : File.open(‘D:/testt/1.txt’, ‘r’) do |filein| while line = filein.gets p line if line =~ /\]\*\>/ … line =~ //A / end fileout.puts p end end I got this result “\12345678 \n” “\SAN FRANCESCO DA PAOLA \\n” “\Via San Francesco Da Paola, 10 \n” “\10123 \n” “\TORINO \n” I thought the … between 2 “line =~” was like (…) in rubular which let catch the content ?? Moreover I would like to transform this html code in XML. But I can"t find an idea how to transform these HTML line in XML. 12345678 But there is no attribut ‘name’ or wathever in the so making and match/replace would be difficult ? … So, if someone can help me I would be very grateful. Nice day 😉 ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regexp-ruby-selection/144091/2 "2008-07-25T09:50:35Z")
Any specific reason you can’t use hpricot or other HTML parsers? Jayanth ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regexp-ruby-selection/144091/3 "2008-07-25T09:56:27Z")
I’ll second that. Hpricot is really quite remarkable. It’ll almost certainly save you days and days of pain. Unless you are doing this for fun / learning, of course. On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 8:44 AM, Srijayanth S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > with rubular the result of my expression is : > > etc… > > end > > I thought the … between 2 “line =~” was like (…) in rubular which > > Nice day 😉 – Me, I imagine places that I have never seen / The colored lights in fountains, blue and green / And I imagine places that I will never go / Behind these clouds that hang here dark and low But it’s there when I’m holding you / There when I’m sleeping too / There when there’s nothing left of me / Hanging out behind the burned-out factories / Out of reach but leading me / Into the beautiful sea ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regexp-ruby-selection/144091/4 "2008-07-25T11:18:36Z")
On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 8:44 AM, Srijayanth S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Any specific reason you can’t use hpricot or other HTML parsers? I didn’t know this tool for ruby. I used once a parser named tidy but that’s all. I’ll try now and let you know. On Jul 25, 9:58 am, Sebastian H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > So as a summary: It doesn’t do what you thought it did. As a matter of fact it > doesn’t do anything sane. So just keep as far away from it as possible. So i was wrong … Thanks you for your explaination of this wrong use of the loop. Thanks you. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 10:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regexp-ruby-selection/144091/5 "2008-07-25T10:05:16Z")
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > I thought the … between 2 “line =~” was like (…) in rubular which > let catch the content ?? Generally in ruby … denotes a range. Like starting\_value … end\_value. In this case though it denotes a flip flop, which is evil and should never ever be used because it makes my head hurt. Here’s what it does though: some\_loop { do\_something if foo … bar } This will do nothing until foo is true. When foo is true it will do\_something. It will then keep doing\_something in every iteration of the loop until bar becomes true. After bar became true it will stop doing\_something until foo is true again. So as a summary: It doesn’t do what you thought it did. As a matter of fact it doesn’t do anything sane. So just keep as far away from it as possible. HTH, Sebastian ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regexp-ruby-selection/144091/6 "2008-07-25T11:52:35Z")
From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] # I’m trying to code a ruby script that select the content of a HTML # table in a HTML page. # I used rubular to test my regexp syntax which is # / \]_\>(._)  / the re is fine, you can use that # with rubular the result of my expression is : # Result 1 # 1. 12345678 # Result 2 # 1. SAN FRANCESCO DA PAOLA # Result 3 # 1. Via San Francesco Da Paola, 10 # Result 4 # 1. 10123 # Result 5 # 1. TORINO # etc… # But with my script : # # File.open(‘D:/testt/1.txt’, ‘r’) do |filein| # while line = filein.gets # p line if line =~ /\]\*\>/ … line # =~ //A / # end # fileout.puts p # end # end # I got this result # “\12345678 \n” # "\SAN FRANCESCO DA PAOLA \\n" # "\Via San Francesco Da Paola, # 10 \n" # “\10123 \n” # “\TORINO \n” you already got it, but you did not capture sample code & run, botp@botp-desktop:~$ cat test.rb File.open(‘test.txt’) do |f| while line = f.gets if line=~/\]_\>(._) / p $1 end end end botp@botp-desktop:~$ ruby test.rb “12345678” “SAN FRANCESCO DA PAOLA” “Via San Francesco Da Paola,10” “10123” “TORINO” # I thought the … between 2 “line =~” was like (…) in rubular which # let catch the content ?? you are making it harder. keep it simple. # Moreover I would like to transform this html code in XML. But I can"t # find an idea how to transform these HTML line in XML. # # 12345678 # But there is no attribut ‘name’ or wathever in the so making and # match/replace would be difficult ? if the html is nicely formatted, you can loop through the table. if you want to be sure, try outputting all the data you can capture first. Then output that again with xml tags inserted. do not worry. xml, like html, is just text w tags. Manipulating text is a good learning exercise for ruby. kind regards -botp