From: Daniel DeLorme <dan-ml@...42.com>
Date: 2008-01-30T10:32:59+09:00
Subject: Re: regular expression negate a word (not character)

I think I have a solution that matches the OP's request

tests = ["winter tire", "tire", "retire", "tired", "snowbird tire", 
"tired on a snow day", "snow tire and regular tire", " tire", "snow 
tire", "snow  tire", "some snowtires"]
m,nm = tests.partition{ |str| str =~ /\A(?>snow *tire|.)*tire/ }
p m
=> ["winter tire", "tire", "retire", "tired", "snowbird tire", "tired on 
a snow day", "snow tire and regular tire", " tire"]
p nm
=> ["snow tire", "snow  tire", "some snowtires"]

How is that?

Daniel