Hi everyone, I hope it''s appropriate to post this question here. I couldn''t find anywhere else to post it (posting to the Ruby group didn''t work). I''m trying to write a regular expression to turn this string: ''johnny went to the [shops] and played [games,soccer,foot ball] with others.'' into this: [''johnny went to the'', [''shops''], ''and played'', [''games'', ''soccer'', ''foot ball''], ''with others.''] Key features are that white space needs to be stripped from around the snippets, and I need to be able to determine which parts are just normal text and which parts are to be used as gaps where people fill in the missing info. If you haven''t already figured it out, this is for a children''s quiz engine. When a phrase appears in square brackets it''s a blank, the system will display a text box for the user to type into. If there are multiple items in the square brackets seperated by comma''s (and optional spaces around the comma''s by lazy users) then the system will display the choices in a random order in a drop down box (the first choice in the list is the correct one). I''ve had a long go at it myself but I just don''t fully grasp the regexp language: irb(main):027:0> ''johnny went to the [shops] and played [games,soccer,foot ball] with others.''.split(/\[(?:([(?:\s)\w(?:\s)]+)(?:,([(?:\s)\w(?:\s)] +))*)\]/) => ["johnny went to the ", "shops", " and played ", "games", "foot ball", " with others."] I''ve tried doing groupings but it seems to make things worse :) Any help would be truly appreciated :) Cheers, Brendon --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
This is kinda ghetto (particularly needing to check chunk.length) but it works on your sample string. def parse_item(lin) ret = Array.new re = Regexp.new(/([^\[\]]+?(\[|\]))+?/) lin.split(re).each do |chunk| if chunk.length > 1 then case chunk when /\]$/ # bracketed option list ret << chunk[0..-2].split('','') else # plain chunk of text ret << chunk.gsub(/\[$/, '''').strip end end end ret.inspect end HTH, -Roy -----Original Message----- From: rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org [mailto:rubyonrails-talk@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Brendon Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 6:28 PM To: Ruby on Rails: Talk Subject: [Rails] Regular Expression help Hi everyone, I hope it''s appropriate to post this question here. I couldn''t find anywhere else to post it (posting to the Ruby group didn''t work). I''m trying to write a regular expression to turn this string: ''johnny went to the [shops] and played [games,soccer,foot ball] with others.'' into this: [''johnny went to the'', [''shops''], ''and played'', [''games'', ''soccer'', ''foot ball''], ''with others.''] Key features are that white space needs to be stripped from around the snippets, and I need to be able to determine which parts are just normal text and which parts are to be used as gaps where people fill in the missing info. If you haven''t already figured it out, this is for a children''s quiz engine. When a phrase appears in square brackets it''s a blank, the system will display a text box for the user to type into. If there are multiple items in the square brackets seperated by comma''s (and optional spaces around the comma''s by lazy users) then the system will display the choices in a random order in a drop down box (the first choice in the list is the correct one). I''ve had a long go at it myself but I just don''t fully grasp the regexp language: irb(main):027:0> ''johnny went to the [shops] and played [games,soccer,foot ball] with others.''.split(/\[(?:([(?:\s)\w(?:\s)]+)(?:,([(?:\s)\w(?:\s)] +))*)\]/) => ["johnny went to the ", "shops", " and played ", "games", "foot ball", " with others."] I''ve tried doing groupings but it seems to make things worse :) Any help would be truly appreciated :) Cheers, Brendon --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Woah dude! Thanks for that :) I''ll work my way through understanding it now :) Cheers! Brendon On Sep 6, 3:22 am, "Pardee, Roy" <parde...-go57ItdSaco@public.gmane.org> wrote:> This is kinda ghetto (particularly needing to check chunk.length) but it works on your sample string. > > def parse_item(lin) > ret = Array.new > re = Regexp.new(/([^\[\]]+?(\[|\]))+?/) > lin.split(re).each do |chunk| > if chunk.length > 1 then > case chunk > when /\]$/ > # bracketed option list > ret << chunk[0..-2].split('','') > else > # plain chunk of text > ret << chunk.gsub(/\[$/, '''').strip > end > end > end > ret.inspect > end > > HTH, > > -Roy > > -----Original Message----- > From: rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org [mailto:rubyonrails-talk@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Brendon > Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 6:28 PM > To: Ruby on Rails: Talk > Subject: [Rails] Regular Expression help > > Hi everyone, I hope it''s appropriate to post this question here. I couldn''t find anywhere else to post it (posting to the Ruby group didn''t work). I''m trying to write a regular expression to turn this > string: > > ''johnny went to the [shops] and played [games,soccer,foot ball] with others.'' > > into this: > > [''johnny went to the'', [''shops''], ''and played'', [''games'', ''soccer'', ''foot ball''], ''with others.''] > > Key features are that white space needs to be stripped from around the snippets, and I need to be able to determine which parts are just normal text and which parts are to be used as gaps where people fill in the missing info. If you haven''t already figured it out, this is for a children''s quiz engine. When a phrase appears in square brackets it''s a blank, the system will display a text box for the user to type into. If there are multiple items in the square brackets seperated by comma''s (and optional spaces around the comma''s by lazy users) then the system will display the choices in a random order in a drop down box (the first choice in the list is the correct one). > > I''ve had a long go at it myself but I just don''t fully grasp the regexp language: > > irb(main):027:0> ''johnny went to the [shops] and played [games,soccer,foot ball] with others.''.split(/\[(?:([(?:\s)\w(?:\s)]+)(?:,([(?:\s)\w(?:\s)] > +))*)\]/) > => ["johnny went to the ", "shops", " and played ", "games", "foot ball", " with others."] > > I''ve tried doing groupings but it seems to make things worse :) > > Any help would be truly appreciated :) > > Cheers, > > Brendon--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Here''s what we came up with using StringScanner: def processed_answer scanner = StringScanner.new(correct_answers) # last position the scanner was in last_pos = 0 output = [] while scanner.scan_until(/\[(.+?)\]/) # non-greedy matching so we only swallow the first bracket # scanner[0] contains the string matched by the regexp # scanner[1] contains the value surrounded the parantheses in the regexp # current position is right up to bracketed text current_pos = scanner.pos - 1 - scanner[0].length # the ''chunk'' is the text from the last position the scanner stopped at # up to the current position chunk = scanner.string[last_pos .. current_pos] output << chunk unless chunk.empty? # store the position the scanner is at for next time round the loop last_pos = scanner.pos # extract the question answer thingies answers = scanner[1].split('','') # returns array # strip whitespace around each possible answer answers.each {|v| v.strip! } # works because strip! is destructive # add answers array output << answers end # make sure we have any text after the last question/answer last_chunk = scanner.string[last_pos..-1] output << last_chunk unless last_chunk.empty? output end On Sep 8, 12:52 pm, Brendon <brendon.m...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:> Woah dude! Thanks for that :) I''ll work my way through understanding > it now :) > > Cheers! > > Brendon > > On Sep 6, 3:22 am, "Pardee, Roy" <parde...-go57ItdSaco@public.gmane.org> wrote: > > > This is kinda ghetto (particularly needing to check chunk.length) but it works on your sample string. > > > def parse_item(lin) > > ret = Array.new > > re = Regexp.new(/([^\[\]]+?(\[|\]))+?/) > > lin.split(re).each do |chunk| > > if chunk.length > 1 then > > case chunk > > when /\]$/ > > # bracketed option list > > ret << chunk[0..-2].split('','') > > else > > # plain chunk of text > > ret << chunk.gsub(/\[$/, '''').strip > > end > > end > > end > > ret.inspect > > end > > > HTH, > > > -Roy > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org [mailto:rubyonrails-talk@googlegroups.com] On Behalf OfBrendon > > Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 6:28 PM > > To: Ruby on Rails: Talk > > Subject: [Rails] Regular Expression help > > > Hi everyone, I hope it''s appropriate to post this question here. I couldn''t find anywhere else to post it (posting to the Ruby group didn''t work). I''m trying to write a regular expression to turn this > > string: > > > ''johnny went to the [shops] and played [games,soccer,foot ball] with others.'' > > > into this: > > > [''johnny went to the'', [''shops''], ''and played'', [''games'', ''soccer'', ''foot ball''], ''with others.''] > > > Key features are that white space needs to be stripped from around the snippets, and I need to be able to determine which parts are just normal text and which parts are to be used as gaps where people fill in the missing info. If you haven''t already figured it out, this is for a children''s quiz engine. When a phrase appears in square brackets it''s a blank, the system will display a text box for the user to type into. If there are multiple items in the square brackets seperated by comma''s (and optional spaces around the comma''s by lazy users) then the system will display the choices in a random order in a drop down box (the first choice in the list is the correct one). > > > I''ve had a long go at it myself but I just don''t fully grasp the regexp language: > > > irb(main):027:0> ''johnny went to the [shops] and played [games,soccer,foot ball] with others.''.split(/\[(?:([(?:\s)\w(?:\s)]+)(?:,([(?:\s)\w(?:\s)] > > +))*)\]/) > > => ["johnny went to the ", "shops", " and played ", "games", "foot ball", " with others."] > > > I''ve tried doing groupings but it seems to make things worse :) > > > Any help would be truly appreciated :) > > > Cheers, > > >Brendon--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---