MatchData#match

match(n) → string or nil

match(name) → string or nil

static VALUE
match_nth(VALUE match, VALUE n)
{
    int i = match_backref_number(match, n);
    struct re_registers *regs = RMATCH_REGS(match);

    backref_number_check(regs, i);

    long start = BEG(i), end = END(i);
    if (start < 0)
        return Qnil;

    return rb_str_subseq(RMATCH(match)->str, start, end - start);
}

Returns the matched substring corresponding to the given argument.

When non-negative argument n is given, returns the matched substring for the nth match:

Example

m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)(\w)?/.match("THX1138.")
# => #<MatchData "HX1138" 1:"H" 2:"X" 3:"113" 4:"8" 5:nil>
m.match(0) # => "HX1138"
m.match(4) # => "8"
m.match(5) # => nil

When string or symbol argument name is given, returns the matched substring for the given name:

Example

m = /(?<foo>.)(.)(?<bar>.+)/.match("hoge")
# => #<MatchData "hoge" foo:"h" bar:"ge">
m.match('foo') # => "h"
m.match(:bar)  # => "ge"

Ruby version changes

3.1
- MatchData#match is added [Feature #18172]

See also #length #match_length #inspect #named_captures also in 4.1 · 4.0 · 3.4 · 3.2 · 3.1

‹ prev#length next ›#match_length