Hi --

On Tue, 18 Apr 2006, Wes Gamble wrote:

> unknown wrote:
>> Hi --
>>
>> On Tue, 18 Apr 2006, Wes Gamble wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> If presented with
>>> How can I just get the part of the string before the slash?
>> How about:
>>
>>    /[^\/]+/   # match one or more non-slash characters
>>
> That works well.
>
> Can you explain to me why
>
> /(.*)?\//
>
> matched the text in front of the "/" AND the "/"
>
> though
>
> ?

Because you told it to :-)  You've got a / in the pattern.

(Keep in mind that the *whole* pattern matches, not just the part in
parentheses.  The parentheses are just for capturing submatches.)


David

-- 
David A. Black (dblack / wobblini.net)
Ruby Power and Light, LLC (http://www.rubypowerandlight.com)

"Ruby for Rails" PDF now on sale!  http://www.manning.com/black
Paper version coming in early May!