From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2011-03-25T17:34:36+09:00
Subject: Re: Regexp, matching only the content within parentheses

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 9:28 AM, Robert Klemme
<shortcutter@googlemail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 9:14 AM, Robert Klemme
> <shortcutter@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 2:58 AM, 7stud -- <bbxx789_05ss@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> perl's regexes have a recursive feature, which can solve your problem.
>>> Want to call an external script?
>>
>> Not necessary: Ruby has it, too.
>>
>> irb(main):001:0> s="x(a(b)()c)y"
>> => "x(a(b)()c)y"
>> irb(main):002:0> %r{(?<ne> \( (?:\g<ne>|[^()]+)* \) )}x.match s
>> => #<MatchData "(a(b)()c)" ne:"(a(b)()c)">
>>
>> irb(main):003:0> s = "f_(a)(x)=x^(2)+(5x//f'(x))"
>> => "f_(a)(x)=x^(2)+(5x//f'(x))"
>> irb(main):004:0> s.scan %r{(?<ne> \( (?: \g<ne> | [^()] )* \) )}x
>> => [["(a)"], ["(x)"], ["(2)"], ["(5x//f'(x))"]]
>>
>> See http://www.geocities.jp/kosako3/oniguruma/doc/RE.txt
>
> PS: Here's a more targeted one
>
> irb(main):054:0> %r{\( (?<ne> [^()] | \( \g<ne> \) )* // \g<ne>* \)}x.match s
> => #<MatchData "(5x//f'(x))" ne:"(x)">

... and if you want to extract the content of the outer bracket
automatically you can do

irb(main):007:0> md = %r{\( (?<all> (?<ne> [^()] | \( \g<ne> \) )* //
\g<ne>* ) \)}x.match s
=> #<MatchData "(5x//f'(x))" all:"5x//f'(x)" ne:"(x)">
irb(main):008:0> md[:all]
=> "5x//f'(x)"

Kind regards

robert

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