Regex to split an array in Ruby based on Pattern

Question

This is more of a "What regex do I use" rather than a semantics question.

I have the following string :

moneyString = "¥10,100 YEN,€100.00 EU,$100.00 US"

And I need to split it on the comma. However, I don't want the comma in the 10,000 Yen to be separated into two arrays.

Currently, if I do moneyString.split(',')

I get : [¥10, 100 YEN, €100.00 EU, $100.00 US] as the different array values. But I want :

[¥10100 YEN, €100.00 EU, $100.00 US]

Can someone show me how to get this regex correct? I'm sorry, but I am a complete newbie with this stuff.

Daniël Knippers · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-24 21:43:05Z

6

You could split on all commas that are NOT preceded by a number, using negative lookbehind.

moneyString = "¥10,100 YEN,€100.00 EU,$100.00 US"

puts moneyString.split(/(?<!\d),/)

# ¥10,100 YEN
# €100.00 EU
# $100.00 US

answered Mar 24, 2014 at 21:43

Daniël Knippers

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Comments

michael_wu · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-24 21:43:20Z

1

moneyString.split(/(?<!\d),/)

The keyword is "negative look-behind".

answered Mar 24, 2014 at 21:43

michael_wu

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