Hi --

On Sun, 19 May 2002, Dossy wrote:

> On 2002.05.19, David Alan Black <dblack / candle.superlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > You want a method called #match that throws away the match? :-)
>
> For simplicity, yes.  $~[0] contains the match, if and when I ever
> need it.
>
> Out of sheer habit, if I wanted the whole match, I would want
> to write:
>
>   x, y, z = "foo bar" =~ /((foo) (bar))/
>   x # => "foo bar"
>   y # => "foo"
>   z # => "bar"

Remember that the underlying concept of the "match" is a match between
a string and a pattern.  The thing you're doing -- embracing the whole
match in the widest set of parentheses -- is what pattern matching
fundamentally already does.  So by adding those parens, you're really
just shadowing the functionality that already exists.  (In Perl I
can't remember whether the match is returned anywhere other than the
dreaded $& (?), but in Ruby you can definitely always get easy access
to the match.)


David

-- 
David Alan Black
home: dblack / candle.superlink.net
work: blackdav / shu.edu
Web:  http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav