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instance method

String#slice!

slice!(index) → new_string or nil

slice!(start, length) → new_string or nil

slice!(range) → new_string or nil

slice!(regexp, capture = 0) → new_string or nil

slice!(substring) → new_string or nil

static VALUE
rb_str_slice_bang(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE str)
{
    VALUE result = Qnil;
    VALUE indx;
    long beg, len = 1;
    char *p;

    rb_check_arity(argc, 1, 2);
    str_modify_keep_cr(str);
    indx = argv[0];
    if (RB_TYPE_P(indx, T_REGEXP)) {
        if (rb_reg_search(indx, str, 0, 0) < 0) return Qnil;
        VALUE match = rb_backref_get();
        struct re_registers *regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);
        int nth = 0;
        if (argc > 1 && (nth = rb_reg_backref_number(match, argv[1])) < 0) {
            if ((nth += regs->num_regs) <= 0) return Qnil;
        }
        else if (nth >= regs->num_regs) return Qnil;
        beg = BEG(nth);
        len = END(nth) - beg;
        goto subseq;
    }
    else if (argc == 2) {
        beg = NUM2LONG(indx);
        len = NUM2LONG(argv[1]);
        goto num_index;
    }
    else if (FIXNUM_P(indx)) {
        beg = FIX2LONG(indx);
        if (!(p = rb_str_subpos(str, beg, &len))) return Qnil;
        if (!len) return Qnil;
        beg = p - RSTRING_PTR(str);
        goto subseq;
    }
    else if (RB_TYPE_P(indx, T_STRING)) {
        beg = rb_str_index(str, indx, 0);
        if (beg == -1) return Qnil;
        len = RSTRING_LEN(indx);
        result = str_duplicate(rb_cString, indx);
        goto squash;
    }
    else {
        switch (rb_range_beg_len(indx, &beg, &len, str_strlen(str, NULL), 0)) {
          case Qnil:
            return Qnil;
          case Qfalse:
            beg = NUM2LONG(indx);
            if (!(p = rb_str_subpos(str, beg, &len))) return Qnil;
            if (!len) return Qnil;
            beg = p - RSTRING_PTR(str);
            goto subseq;
          default:
            goto num_index;
        }
    }

  num_index:
    if (!(p = rb_str_subpos(str, beg, &len))) return Qnil;
    beg = p - RSTRING_PTR(str);

  subseq:
    result = rb_str_new(RSTRING_PTR(str)+beg, len);
    rb_enc_cr_str_copy_for_substr(result, str);

  squash:
    if (len > 0) {
        if (beg == 0) {
            rb_str_drop_bytes(str, len);
        }
        else {
            char *sptr = RSTRING_PTR(str);
            long slen = RSTRING_LEN(str);
            if (beg + len > slen) /* pathological check */
                len = slen - beg;
            memmove(sptr + beg,
                    sptr + beg + len,
                    slen - (beg + len));
            slen -= len;
            STR_SET_LEN(str, slen);
            TERM_FILL(&sptr[slen], TERM_LEN(str));
        }
    }
    return result;
}

Removes the substring of self specified by the arguments; returns the removed substring.

See String#[] for details about the arguments that specify the substring.

A few examples:

Example

string = "This is a string"
string.slice!(2)        #=> "i"
string.slice!(3..6)     #=> " is "
string.slice!(/s.*t/)   #=> "sa st"
string.slice!("r")      #=> "r"
string                  #=> "Thing"

Ruby version changes

3.0
- The following methods now return or yield String instances instead of subclass instances when called on subclass instances: [Bug #10845]

See also #slice #split #size #squeeze also in 4.1 · 4.0 · 3.4 · 3.3 · 3.2 · 3.0

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