From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2012-08-09T19:51:05+09:00
Subject: Re: File eliminating 'a'

On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 11:31 AM, ajay paswan <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:
> How can I eliminate every 'a' in a file if it is not inside double
> quote?
>
> For example:
>
> input:"acb"gha"abc"
> output:"acb"gh"abc"

Here's one way:

$ ruby19 -i.bak rr.rb t1.txt t2.txt
$ diff -U5 t1.txt.bak t1.txt
--- t1.txt.bak  2012-08-09 12:47:35.043920600 +0200
+++ t1.txt      2012-08-09 12:50:02.181058200 +0200
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 111111111
-a
+
 b
-ab
-ba
-bab
+b
+b
+bb
 "a"
 "b"
 "ab"
 "ba"
 "bab"
$ diff -U5 t2.txt.bak t2.txt
--- t2.txt.bak  2012-08-09 12:47:55.923182500 +0200
+++ t2.txt      2012-08-09 12:50:02.184058800 +0200
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 222222222
-a
+
 b
-ab
-ba
-bab
+b
+b
+bb
 "a"
 "b"
 "ab"
 "ba"
 "bab"
$ cat -n rr.rb
     1  ARGF.each do |line|
     2    puts line.split(/("[^"]*")/).each {|s| /\A"/ =~ s or
s.gsub!(/a/, '')}.join
     3  end

Cheers

robert

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