From: james.d.masters@...
Date: 2007-06-12T04:50:17+09:00
Subject: Re: why gsub! doesn't work in my script

On Jun 11, 10:49 am, Li Chen <chen_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 2) I modify my codes and I get the expected results. But the odd is that
> I have to use 3 backslashes before the 2nd 2. How to explain this.

This is because the 2nd string can use \1, \2, etc... as a replacement
for a previous match in the 1st string (matches are specified in the
1st string in parentheses).  This topic was discussed here a few days
ago:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/78325335e89ce302/c99e5dda10c017fb#c99e5dda10c017fb