From: Orion Hunter <orion2480@...>
Date: 2003-11-27T03:08:17+09:00
Subject: Dumb str.sub question

I feel really dumb asking this, but I just can't seem to figure it out.

I am trying to parse some text for use in a mysql insert statement.  That 
being the case, I need to escape out quote characters.

If str= "isn't stands for is not", what I want is a string with "isn\'t 
stands for is not"

At first I thought, sure, no problem!!  But I can't get it.  I've tried the 
following:

irb:1> str = "isn't stands for is not"
irb:2> str.sub( '\'', '\'' )  --> "isn't stands for is not" (expected)
irb:3> str.sub( '\'', '\\'' )  --> unterminated string (expected)
irb:4> str.sub( '\'', '\\\' ) --> "isnt stands for is nott stands for is 
not" (huh? Why this wierd double take?)
irb:5> str.sub( '\'' ){ |m| m = "\'" } --> "isn't stands for is not" 
(expected)
irb:6> str.sub( '\'' ){ |m| m = "\\'" } --> "isn\\'t stands for is not" (why 
did it insert TWO \'s?, and not just one? I would have exected the first one 
to "escape" the second, thus giving \' as desired)

So, my quesitons are:
1) How do I do my escape character substituion
2) Why did #4 and #6 behave as they did?

Thanks.

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