Kev Jackson wrote: > given this string > > " <td valign=\"top\">message</td> <td valign=\"top\">the message > to echo.</td> <td valign=\"top\" align=\"center\">Yes, unless data > is included in a character section within this element.</td> </tr> " > > how can I get this result > > ["message", "the message to echo.", "Yes, unless data is included in a > character section within this element."] > > ? > > I've tried scan + regexp, but the best I've got so far is > > [["message"]] > > with this > > r.scan(/\">(\w+\s*)<\/td>/) > > Thanks > Kev If you really want sentences, this will work: >> s.scan /\w+(?:[\s,]+\w+)*[.;?!]/ => ["the message\nto echo.", "Yes, unless data is\nincluded in a character section within this element."] >> s.scan /\w+(?:,?\s+\w+)*[.;?!]/ => ["the message\nto echo.", "Yes, unless data is\nincluded in a character section within this element."] Kind regards robert