From: 7stud 7stud <dolgun@...>
Date: 2007-03-14T17:35:45+09:00
Subject: Re: ruby regex lookarounds?

> Isn't that output inconsistent?  If Ruby wants to say that the regex
> matches the whole string, then shouldn't $1 be 'ab'.  I know that
> lookarounds shouldn't be considered part of the match--they are just
> assertions, but Ruby's $& variable doesn't seem to respect that.

I see what's going on. (?:ab) is not a grouping: (?: and ) do not form a 
grouping that gets a $ variable.  If I write it as (?:(ab)), then ab is 
a grouping:

irb(main):021:0> "abc" =~ /(?:(ab))(c)/
=> 0
irb(main):022:0> $&
=> "abc"
irb(main):023:0> $1
=> "ab"
irb(main):024:0> $2
=> "c"
irb(main):025:0>

It still seems a little strange that $& contains the lookaround.




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