Regular Expressions = flexible + fast! myarray = mystring.scan(/regex/) "[^"\r\n]*" The dot matches a single char, no care 4 what the character is. The exception is newline characters. In regex things, the dot will 'not match' a newline character by default. So by default, the dot is short for the negated character class [^\n] (UNIX regex flavors) or [^\r\n] (Windows regex flavors)... In RegexBuddy, EditPad Pro or PowerGREP, you tick the checkbox labeled "dot matches newline" when building your expressions... wtf... ladies.. wtf! of course anything is possible or we wouldn't stand a chance... :-)