From: Shashank Date <sdate@...>
Date: 2002-12-11T13:36:37+09:00
Subject: replacing chars in string

I am trying to globally replace characters in a string by "chaining" the
String#gsub method like so:

str =  "count=(a+b); if(a<=b) d[i]=10;f(a,b)"
puts str.gsub(/,/,' , ').gsub(/\(/,' ( ').gsub(/\)/,' )
').gsub(/([^<>])=/,'\1 = ').gsub(/;/,";\n")

Is there a better (faster) way to do this ?
Here is how I want the replacement to work:

';'  --- to be replaced by -->  ';\n'  new line after
','  ------------------------>  ' , '   single space on either side
'('  ------------------------>  ' ( '  single space on either side
')'  ------------------------>  ' ) '  single space on either side
'=' ------------------------>  ' = ' single space on either side except when
preceded by < or >

I am using ruby 1.7.3 (2002-11-17) [i386-mswin32]

TIA,
-shanko