Docs for String.split

[Gabriel Gilder]

Hi there,
Just joined to point out a small oversight in the Ruby docs - I looked into
the process for contributing documentation changes but it was a little over
my head. :) So I figured someone here could probably take care of it really
quickly.

So, the docs for String.split cover splitting by regex, but they don't
mention that if you have a capturing subpattern (or several) in your regex,
that gets included in the returned array.

For example:

"1, 2.34,56, 7".split(%r{(,\s*)}) #=> ["1", ", ", "2.34", ",", "56", ", ",
"7"]
"word :separator: word".split(/(:(\w+):)/) #=> ["word ", ":separator:",
"separator", " word"]

I've tested this in Ruby 1.8.7, but I imagine it works the same way in Ruby
1.9 as well, so both versions of the docs should probably be updated.

Thanks, please let me know if you have any questions!

-Gabriel


--------------------------------
Gabriel Gilder
Graphic Design & Web Programming
http://gabrielgilder.com
***@gabrielgilder.com

[Roger Pack]

Post by Gabriel Gilder
I've tested this in Ruby 1.8.7, but I imagine it works the same way in Ruby
1.9 as well, so both versions of the docs should probably be updated.

Looks like it may be mentioned in the 1.9 docs...

http://rubydoc.ruby-forum.com/doc/ruby-1.9.1-p129/classes/String.html#M000305

-r

[Gabriel Gilder]

Ah, good catch, I didn't notice that one extra line. Perhaps some examples
like the ones I posted could still help though? It's easy to miss that note.

-Gabriel

Post by Roger Pack

Post by Gabriel Gilder
I've tested this in Ruby 1.8.7, but I imagine it works the same way in

Ruby

Post by Gabriel Gilder
1.9 as well, so both versions of the docs should probably be updated.

Looks like it may be mentioned in the 1.9 docs...
http://rubydoc.ruby-forum.com/doc/ruby-1.9.1-p129/classes/String.html#M000305
-r

[Hugh Sasse]

Post by Gabriel Gilder
Hi there,
Just joined to point out a small oversight in the Ruby docs - I looked into
the process for contributing documentation changes but it was a little over
my head. :) So I figured someone here could probably take care of it really
quickly.
So, the docs for String.split cover splitting by regex, but they don't
mention that if you have a capturing subpattern (or several) in your regex,
that gets included in the returned array.
"1, 2.34,56, 7".split(%r{(,\s*)}) #=> ["1", ", ", "2.34", ",", "56", ", ",
"7"]
"word :separator: word".split(/(:(\w+):)/) #=> ["word ", ":separator:",
"separator", " word"]
I've tested this in Ruby 1.8.7, but I imagine it works the same way in Ruby
1.9 as well, so both versions of the docs should probably be updated.

Maybe a patch a bit like this:

--- ruby-1.8.7-p173/string.c.orig 2009-02-17 02:59:26.000000000 +0000
+++ ruby-1.8.7-p173/string.c 2010-01-20 19:10:04.718058600 +0000
@@ -3515,7 +3515,9 @@
*
* If <i>pattern</i> is a <code>Regexp</code>, <i>str</i> is divided where the
* pattern matches. Whenever the pattern matches a zero-length string,
- * <i>str</i> is split into individual characters.
+ * <i>str</i> is split into individual characters. If
+ * <i>pattern</i> includes one or more capturing subpatterns,
+ * these will be returned in the array returned by split.
*
* If <i>pattern</i> is omitted, the value of <code>$;</code> is used. If
* <code>$;</code> is <code>nil</code> (which is the default), <i>str</i> is
@@ -3532,6 +3534,8 @@
* " now's the time".split(' ') #=> ["now's", "the", "time"]
* " now's the time".split(/ /) #=> ["", "now's", "", "the", "time"]
* "1, 2.34,56, 7".split(%r{,\s*}) #=> ["1", "2.34", "56", "7"]
+ * "1, 2.34,56".split(%r{(,\s*)}) #=> ["1", ", ", "2.34", ",", "56"]
+ * "wd :sp: wd".split(/(:(\w+):)/) #=> ["wd ", ":sp:", "sp", " wd"]
* "hello".split(//) #=> ["h", "e", "l", "l", "o"]
* "hello".split(//, 3) #=> ["h", "e", "llo"]
* "hi mom".split(%r{\s*}) #=> ["h", "i", "m", "o", "m"]

keeps the alignment of existing examples. I've not run these to test
them, by the way.

Post by Gabriel Gilder
Thanks, please let me know if you have any questions!
-Gabriel

Hugh

[Roger Pack]

Looks good--submit a patch to core with it :)
-r

[Hugh Sasse]

Post by Roger Pack
Looks good--submit a patch to core with it :)

Awaiting comment from Gabriel Gilder.....

Post by Roger Pack
-r

Hugh

[Gabriel Gilder]

Looks great to me!

Post by Hugh Sasse

Post by Roger Pack
Looks good--submit a patch to core with it :)

Awaiting comment from Gabriel Gilder.....

Post by Roger Pack
-r

Hugh

[Hugh Sasse]

Post by Gabriel Gilder
Looks great to me!

Post by Hugh Sasse

Post by Roger Pack
Looks good--submit a patch to core with it :)

Awaiting comment from Gabriel Gilder.....

Post by Roger Pack
-r

Hugh

The patch was accepted, along with a number of supporting test cases
as a separate patch.

Hugh