From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2010-10-10T19:20:11+09:00
Subject: Re: Better way to remove all occurrence of matches on a String

On 09.10.2010 16:09, Benoit Daloze wrote:
> Hi Rubyists !
>
> I remember many times I searched for a better way to "remove all
> occurrence of matches on a String".
>
> I usually do:
>    str.gsub! /\bword\b/, ''
>
> I remembered the String#[]= from tryruby.org, but that only replace
> the first occurrence.
> String#delete "Uses the same rules for building the set of characters
> as String#count", and does not work with Regexp.
> String#tr follow the same rules, and would need a second '' parameter.
>
> What feels a bit "awkward" to me in the first approach is to specify I
> want no replacement (so nothing, so I should not have to specify it).
>
> I think for a default second parameter to (g)sub(!) (without block),
> but this case is supposed to return an Enumerator (is it sometimes
> useful?).
> Also the "sub" part of the name clearly indicate it is substituting
> sth for a new thing (the new thing should not be empty).
>
> I would then go for #delete, adding a special case for RegExp
> arguments, but that is not consistent with current behavior with a
> String.
> However, String#delete seems very rarely used, and could get some
> interest back. (and "str".delete(/\bword\b/) do feel right to me)
>
> What do you think ?

Don't waste too much thought on this.  After all the second parameter 
makes it clear what's happening here.  My 0.02 EUR.

Cheers

	robert

-- 
remember.guy do |as, often| as.you_can - without end
http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/