From: Simon Strandgaard <neoneye@...>
Date: 2004-05-31T17:46:22+09:00
Subject: Re: [bug] String#split returns extra empty string

Simon Strandgaard wrote:
> While extending my own regexp-engine with a split method,
> I discovered something odd about Ruby's split.
> 
> irb(main):001:0> 'ab1ab'.split(/\D+/)
> => ["", "1"]
> 
> Its asymmetric, it has a special case for eliminating
> the last empty string.. but apparently not the first empty string.
> 
> I would have expected above to be symmetric, and output:
> => ["1"]
> 

[10 minutes of experimenting later]
I wasn't aware that Ruby inserts subcaptures this way.

irb(main):001:0> "ab2cd3".split(/(\D+)/, 2)
=> ["", "ab", "2cd3"]

Because of subcapture insertion, it make sense to keep the
first empty string. 

I withdraw this bug-report.

-- 
Simon Strandgaard