# Scan syntax question

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scan-syntax-question/64613>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 15, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scan-syntax-question/64613 "2006-08-15T05:03:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vince](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vince](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vince)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scan-syntax-question/64613/1 "2006-08-15T05:03:19Z")

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I was going through the syntax on this site:  
[http://www.rubycentral.com/ref/ref\_c\_string.html](http://www.rubycentral.com/ref/ref_c_string.html)

trying to figure out how to parse my tags. Basically I have a tags  
field that returns a value a = ‘new york’ table

I want to parse it so that I grab the new york and the table but the  
only way I know to do it is with scan such as: \<%a=st.scan(/\w+/)%\>  
which returns three values: new, york, and table.

Can somebody help me with the proper syntax for my scan statement?

Thanks…