From: David Alan Black <dblack@...>
Date: 2002-05-20T04:05:17+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby regex question

Hello --

On Mon, 20 May 2002, Michael Campbell wrote:

> > You want a method called #match that throws away the match? :-)
>
>
> Why not?  How many times in c do you throw away the return from
> printf()?

A better analogy would be a method called "printf()" that didn't print
anything.  Or, if you really want to return only submatches but not
the actual match on a pattern match, maybe a printf() that only
printed the interpolated parts:

   printf("Hello %s\n", "there");   # =>  "there"

:-)

Anyway, the return from String#match (MatchData object or nil) can be
used in a Boolean test, as well as being mined for the match and
submatches, so there's really no problem.


David

-- 
David Alan Black
home: dblack@candle.superlink.net
work: blackdav@shu.edu
Web:  http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav