class MatchData
MatchData is the type of the special variable $~,
and is the type of the object returned by Regexp#match and
Regexp.last_match. It encapsulates all the results of a
pattern match, results normally accessed through the special variables
$&, $', $`, $1,
$2, and so on.
Public Instance Methods
Equality—Two matchdata are equal if their target strings, patterns, and matched positions are identical.
static VALUE
match_equal(VALUE match1, VALUE match2)
{
    const struct re_registers *regs1, *regs2;
    if (match1 == match2) return Qtrue;
    if (!RB_TYPE_P(match2, T_MATCH)) return Qfalse;
    if (!rb_str_equal(RMATCH(match1)->str, RMATCH(match2)->str)) return Qfalse;
    if (!rb_reg_equal(RMATCH(match1)->regexp, RMATCH(match2)->regexp)) return Qfalse;
    regs1 = RMATCH_REGS(match1);
    regs2 = RMATCH_REGS(match2);
    if (regs1->num_regs != regs2->num_regs) return Qfalse;
    if (memcmp(regs1->beg, regs2->beg, regs1->num_regs * sizeof(*regs1->beg))) return Qfalse;
    if (memcmp(regs1->end, regs2->end, regs1->num_regs * sizeof(*regs1->end))) return Qfalse;
    return Qtrue;
}
          Match Reference – MatchData acts as an array, and may be
accessed using the normal array indexing techniques.  mtch[0]
is equivalent to the special variable $&, and returns the
entire matched string.  mtch[1], mtch[2], and so
on return the values of the matched backreferences (portions of the pattern
between parentheses).
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m #=> #<MatchData "HX1138" 1:"H" 2:"X" 3:"113" 4:"8"> m[0] #=> "HX1138" m[1, 2] #=> ["H", "X"] m[1..3] #=> ["H", "X", "113"] m[-3, 2] #=> ["X", "113"] m = /(?<foo>a+)b/.match("ccaaab") m #=> #<MatchData "aaab" foo:"aaa"> m["foo"] #=> "aaa" m[:foo] #=> "aaa"
static VALUE
match_aref(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE match)
{
    VALUE idx, rest;
    match_check(match);
    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &idx, &rest);
    if (NIL_P(rest)) {
        if (FIXNUM_P(idx)) {
            if (FIX2INT(idx) >= 0) {
                return rb_reg_nth_match(FIX2INT(idx), match);
            }
        }
        else {
            const char *p;
            int num;
            switch (TYPE(idx)) {
              case T_SYMBOL:
                idx = rb_id2str(SYM2ID(idx));
                /* fall through */
              case T_STRING:
                p = StringValuePtr(idx);
                if (!rb_enc_compatible(RREGEXP(RMATCH(match)->regexp)->src, idx) ||
                    (num = name_to_backref_number(RMATCH_REGS(match), RMATCH(match)->regexp,
                                                  p, p + RSTRING_LEN(idx))) < 1) {
                    name_to_backref_error(idx);
                }
                return rb_reg_nth_match(num, match);
              default:
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    return rb_ary_aref(argc, argv, match_to_a(match));
}
          Returns the offset of the start of the nth element of the match array in the string. n can be a string or symbol to reference a named capture.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.begin(0) #=> 1 m.begin(2) #=> 2 m = /(?<foo>.)(.)(?<bar>.)/.match("hoge") p m.begin(:foo) #=> 0 p m.begin(:bar) #=> 2
static VALUE
match_begin(VALUE match, VALUE n)
{
    int i = match_backref_number(match, n);
    struct re_registers *regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
    match_check(match);
    if (i < 0 || regs->num_regs <= i)
        rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "index %d out of matches", i);
    if (BEG(i) < 0)
        return Qnil;
    update_char_offset(match);
    return INT2FIX(RMATCH(match)->rmatch->char_offset[i].beg);
}
          Returns the array of captures; equivalent to mtch.to_a[1..-1].
f1,f2,f3,f4 = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.").captures f1 #=> "H" f2 #=> "X" f3 #=> "113" f4 #=> "8"
static VALUE
match_captures(VALUE match)
{
    return match_array(match, 1);
}
          Returns the offset of the character immediately following the end of the nth element of the match array in the string. n can be a string or symbol to reference a named capture.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.end(0) #=> 7 m.end(2) #=> 3 m = /(?<foo>.)(.)(?<bar>.)/.match("hoge") p m.end(:foo) #=> 1 p m.end(:bar) #=> 3
static VALUE
match_end(VALUE match, VALUE n)
{
    int i = match_backref_number(match, n);
    struct re_registers *regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
    match_check(match);
    if (i < 0 || regs->num_regs <= i)
        rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "index %d out of matches", i);
    if (BEG(i) < 0)
        return Qnil;
    update_char_offset(match);
    return INT2FIX(RMATCH(match)->rmatch->char_offset[i].end);
}
          Equality—Two matchdata are equal if their target strings, patterns, and matched positions are identical.
static VALUE
match_equal(VALUE match1, VALUE match2)
{
    const struct re_registers *regs1, *regs2;
    if (match1 == match2) return Qtrue;
    if (!RB_TYPE_P(match2, T_MATCH)) return Qfalse;
    if (!rb_str_equal(RMATCH(match1)->str, RMATCH(match2)->str)) return Qfalse;
    if (!rb_reg_equal(RMATCH(match1)->regexp, RMATCH(match2)->regexp)) return Qfalse;
    regs1 = RMATCH_REGS(match1);
    regs2 = RMATCH_REGS(match2);
    if (regs1->num_regs != regs2->num_regs) return Qfalse;
    if (memcmp(regs1->beg, regs2->beg, regs1->num_regs * sizeof(*regs1->beg))) return Qfalse;
    if (memcmp(regs1->end, regs2->end, regs1->num_regs * sizeof(*regs1->end))) return Qfalse;
    return Qtrue;
}
          Produce a hash based on the target string, regexp and matched positions of this matchdata.
static VALUE
match_hash(VALUE match)
{
    const struct re_registers *regs;
    st_index_t hashval = rb_hash_start(rb_str_hash(RMATCH(match)->str));
    rb_hash_uint(hashval, reg_hash(RMATCH(match)->regexp));
    regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
    hashval = rb_hash_uint(hashval, regs->num_regs);
    hashval = rb_hash_uint(hashval, rb_memhash(regs->beg, regs->num_regs * sizeof(*regs->beg)));
    hashval = rb_hash_uint(hashval, rb_memhash(regs->end, regs->num_regs * sizeof(*regs->end)));
    hashval = rb_hash_end(hashval);
    return LONG2FIX(hashval);
}
          Returns a printable version of mtch.
puts /.$/.match("foo").inspect #=> #<MatchData "o"> puts /(.)(.)(.)/.match("foo").inspect #=> #<MatchData "foo" 1:"f" 2:"o" 3:"o"> puts /(.)(.)?(.)/.match("fo").inspect #=> #<MatchData "fo" 1:"f" 2:nil 3:"o"> puts /(?<foo>.)(?<bar>.)(?<baz>.)/.match("hoge").inspect #=> #<MatchData "hog" foo:"h" bar:"o" baz:"g">
static VALUE
match_inspect(VALUE match)
{
    const char *cname = rb_obj_classname(match);
    VALUE str;
    int i;
    struct re_registers *regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
    int num_regs = regs->num_regs;
    struct backref_name_tag *names;
    VALUE regexp = RMATCH(match)->regexp;
    if (regexp == 0) {
        return rb_sprintf("#<%s:%p>", cname, (void*)match);
    }
    names = ALLOCA_N(struct backref_name_tag, num_regs);
    MEMZERO(names, struct backref_name_tag, num_regs);
    onig_foreach_name(RREGEXP(regexp)->ptr,
            match_inspect_name_iter, names);
    str = rb_str_buf_new2("#<");
    rb_str_buf_cat2(str, cname);
    for (i = 0; i < num_regs; i++) {
        VALUE v;
        rb_str_buf_cat2(str, " ");
        if (0 < i) {
            if (names[i].name)
                rb_str_buf_cat(str, (const char *)names[i].name, names[i].len);
            else {
                rb_str_catf(str, "%d", i);
            }
            rb_str_buf_cat2(str, ":");
        }
        v = rb_reg_nth_match(i, match);
        if (v == Qnil)
            rb_str_buf_cat2(str, "nil");
        else
            rb_str_buf_append(str, rb_str_inspect(v));
    }
    rb_str_buf_cat2(str, ">");
    return str;
}
          Returns the number of elements in the match array.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.length #=> 5 m.size #=> 5
static VALUE
match_size(VALUE match)
{
    match_check(match);
    return INT2FIX(RMATCH_REGS(match)->num_regs);
}
          Returns a list of names of captures as an array of strings. It is same as mtch.regexp.names.
/(?<foo>.)(?<bar>.)(?<baz>.)/.match("hoge").names #=> ["foo", "bar", "baz"] m = /(?<x>.)(?<y>.)?/.match("a") #=> #<MatchData "a" x:"a" y:nil> m.names #=> ["x", "y"]
static VALUE
match_names(VALUE match)
{
    match_check(match);
    return rb_reg_names(RMATCH(match)->regexp);
}
          Returns a two-element array containing the beginning and ending offsets of the nth match. n can be a string or symbol to reference a named capture.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.offset(0) #=> [1, 7] m.offset(4) #=> [6, 7] m = /(?<foo>.)(.)(?<bar>.)/.match("hoge") p m.offset(:foo) #=> [0, 1] p m.offset(:bar) #=> [2, 3]
static VALUE
match_offset(VALUE match, VALUE n)
{
    int i = match_backref_number(match, n);
    struct re_registers *regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
    match_check(match);
    if (i < 0 || regs->num_regs <= i)
        rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "index %d out of matches", i);
    if (BEG(i) < 0)
        return rb_assoc_new(Qnil, Qnil);
    update_char_offset(match);
    return rb_assoc_new(INT2FIX(RMATCH(match)->rmatch->char_offset[i].beg),
                        INT2FIX(RMATCH(match)->rmatch->char_offset[i].end));
}
          Returns the portion of the original string after the current match.
Equivalent to the special variable $'.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138: The Movie") m.post_match #=> ": The Movie"
VALUE
rb_reg_match_post(VALUE match)
{
    VALUE str;
    long pos;
    struct re_registers *regs;
    if (NIL_P(match)) return Qnil;
    match_check(match);
    regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
    if (BEG(0) == -1) return Qnil;
    str = RMATCH(match)->str;
    pos = END(0);
    str = rb_str_subseq(str, pos, RSTRING_LEN(str) - pos);
    if (OBJ_TAINTED(match)) OBJ_TAINT(str);
    return str;
}
          Returns the portion of the original string before the current match.
Equivalent to the special variable $`.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.pre_match #=> "T"
VALUE
rb_reg_match_pre(VALUE match)
{
    VALUE str;
    struct re_registers *regs;
    if (NIL_P(match)) return Qnil;
    match_check(match);
    regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
    if (BEG(0) == -1) return Qnil;
    str = rb_str_subseq(RMATCH(match)->str, 0, BEG(0));
    if (OBJ_TAINTED(match)) OBJ_TAINT(str);
    return str;
}
          # File lib/pp.rb, line 474 def pretty_print(q) nc = [] self.regexp.named_captures.each {|name, indexes| indexes.each {|i| nc[i] = name } } q.object_group(self) { q.breakable q.seplist(0...self.size, lambda { q.breakable }) {|i| if i == 0 q.pp self[i] else if nc[i] q.text nc[i] else q.pp i end q.text ':' q.pp self[i] end } } end
Returns the regexp.
m = /a.*b/.match("abc") m.regexp #=> /a.*b/
static VALUE
match_regexp(VALUE match)
{
    match_check(match);
    return RMATCH(match)->regexp;
}
          Returns the number of elements in the match array.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.length #=> 5 m.size #=> 5
static VALUE
match_size(VALUE match)
{
    match_check(match);
    return INT2FIX(RMATCH_REGS(match)->num_regs);
}
          Returns a frozen copy of the string passed in to match.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.string #=> "THX1138."
static VALUE
match_string(VALUE match)
{
    match_check(match);
    return RMATCH(match)->str;  /* str is frozen */
}
          Returns the array of matches.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.to_a #=> ["HX1138", "H", "X", "113", "8"]
Because to_a is called when expanding
*variable, there's a useful assignment shortcut
for extracting matched fields. This is slightly slower than accessing the
fields directly (as an intermediate array is generated).
all,f1,f2,f3 = *(/(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.")) all #=> "HX1138" f1 #=> "H" f2 #=> "X" f3 #=> "113"
static VALUE
match_to_a(VALUE match)
{
    return match_array(match, 0);
}
          Returns the entire matched string.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.") m.to_s #=> "HX1138"
static VALUE
match_to_s(VALUE match)
{
    VALUE str = rb_reg_last_match(match);
    match_check(match);
    if (NIL_P(str)) str = rb_str_new(0,0);
    if (OBJ_TAINTED(match)) OBJ_TAINT(str);
    if (OBJ_TAINTED(RMATCH(match)->str)) OBJ_TAINT(str);
    return str;
}
          Uses each index to access the matching values, returning an array of the corresponding matches.
m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138: The Movie") m.to_a #=> ["HX1138", "H", "X", "113", "8"] m.values_at(0, 2, -2) #=> ["HX1138", "X", "113"]
static VALUE
match_values_at(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE match)
{
    struct re_registers *regs;
    match_check(match);
    regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
    return rb_get_values_at(match, regs->num_regs, argc, argv, match_entry);
}