From: Reprisal <nepenthereprisal@...>
Date: 2006-10-01T12:13:59+09:00
Subject: Re: How to escape spaces

Your trouble isn't with your gsub patterns I don't believe but with  
what you are seeing in irb.

irb(main):107:0> t="a B"
=> "a B"
irb(main):108:0> t.gsub(/ /,"\\")
=> "a\\B"
irb(main):109:0> puts t.gsub(/ /,"\\")
a\B
=> nil
irb(main):110:0> 92.chr
=> "\\"
irb(main):111:0> puts 92.chr
\
=> nil
irb(main):112:0> Regexp::escape(t)
=> "a\\ B"
irb(main):113:0> puts Regexp::escape(t)
a\ B
=> nil

On Sep 30, 2006, at 9:30 PM, Jonathan Wallace wrote:

> I'm using ruby 1.8.4.  I'm trying to use the gsub function to escape
> spaces in a linux path that is stored in a variable.
>
> When I attempt the following, t = "a B"; t.gsub(/ /, "\\ "), I receive
> the following output:
>
> irb(main):001:0> t = "a B"; t.gsub(/ /, "\\ ")
> => "a\\ B"
>
> I'd like to get "a\ B" (without quotes, of course).  Can someone point
> me in the proper direction?  Note: I've tried many different  
> variations
> with no luck.
>  Thanks,
>   Jonathan
>
>