From: Lars Christensen <larschbelunktumdk@...>
Date: 2009-06-11T00:03:43+09:00
Subject: Match data variables

I understand that $~ and its friends ($&, $1, ...) are method local, but:

Can a custom method mimic the behaviour of String#match, String#=~ etc
and set the match data for the caller?

def expect(pattern)
  gets =~ pattern or fail
end

expect /(\d+)/

p $1  #=> nil
p $~  #=> nil  :-(

I would like $~ to contain the match data here.