From: GrzechG <grzechg@...>
Date: 2007-06-10T21:25:05+09:00
Subject: Re: regex: get the first match

> I want to parse a tagged string like this: "<i>this is</i><i>my
> string</i>"
> 
> i am doing:
> 
>>> "<i>this is</i><i>my string</i>".scan(/<i>(.*)<\/i>/)
> => [["this is</i><i>my string"]]
> 
> What i want is a regex that will return the *first* segment that
> matches.
> in the above case -> [["this is", "my string"]]

The solution is :

"<i>this is</i><i>my string</i>".scan(/<i>(.*?)<\/i>/)
=> [["this is"], ["my string"]]

The regexp scope is default maximum as is possible to find.
If you use '?' character you minimze the scope.
(.*?) instead of (.*) and the </i><i> part of string don't be include 
into one result.

Regards,
Grzegorz Golebiowski