From: mortee <mortee.lists@...>
Date: 2007-11-01T15:17:24+09:00
Subject: Re: String#split and groups in the field separator RE

Daniel Sheppard wrote:
> Yes, any capture groups in the regex will be included in the split
> array. If you want to use groups without capturing it into the split
> array, use a non-capturing group - ie, /(?=,)/ rather than /(,)/
>
> It is curious that it's not in the api doc... I must have learnt it from
> somewhere...

7stud -- wrote:
> I guess I should mention that the rule I jotted down in the margin of my 
> book is: if the split() pattern has parenthesized sub groupings, the 
> result array will include the match for each subgroup--but not the whole 
> match.
> 
> Applying that rule to your examples:
> 
>> irb(main):060:0> s.split(/(:)+/)
>> => ["a", ":", "b", ":", "c", ":", "d"]        => ?
> 
> The subgroup (:) matches a single colon, so those matches are included 
> in the results,
[...]

Thanks, that clarifies it, and the results make sense based on the rule.
However, I find it quite confusing to have parts of what I intend to be
part of the "separator" among the list of results. To say the least.

mortee