From: Phrogz <phrogz@...>
Date: 2007-12-14T04:09:59+09:00
Subject: Re: Regexp Matching Not Blank And Not A Specific Word?

On Dec 13, 11:16 am, Andrew Stewart <b...@airbladesoftware.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Please could somebody show me how to write a regular expression that
> matches when the input is not blank and it's not a specific word,
> e.g. dog.
>
> For example, I would hope for these results:
>
> '' =~ regexp       # nil
> 'dog' =~ regexp    # nil
> 'cat' =~ regexp    # not nil


irb(main):006:0> tests = [ "", "dog", "cat", "doggone it" ]
=> ["", "dog", "cat", "doggone it"]

irb(main):007:0> tests.each do |str|
irb(main):008:1*   hit = (str =~ /^(?!dog).+$|^dog.+$/)
irb(main):009:1>   puts "#{str.inspect} => #{hit.inspect}"
irb(main):010:1> end
"" => nil
"dog" => nil
"cat" => 0
"doggone it" => 0