Syntax error in Ruby regexp containing @

Question

I'm trying to replace occurrences of special characters like /, :, etc in a string with */*, *:* respectively.

str.gsub!(/([;.\\/?:@&=+$,{}|^\[\]`<>#%"'])/, '*\1*')

However, I get a SyntaxError:

`@&' is not allowed as an instance variable name
syntax error, unexpected end-of-input, expecting tSTRING_CONTENT or tSTRING_DBEG or tSTRING_DVAR or tSTRING_END
str.gsub!(/([;.\\/?:@&=+$,{}|^\[\]`<>#%"'])/, '*...
                     ^ (SyntaxError)

I tried to define that regexp as a string and use RegExp.quote(...) to convert it, but to no avail. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated!

You just forgot to escape the / symbol in the regex: str.gsub!(/([;.\\\/?:@&=+$,{}|^\[\]`<>#%"'])/, '*\1*'). RoR expects a valid variable name after @ in your case. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Feb 2, 2017 at 9:06

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-02 09:16:18Z

3

You just forgot to escape the / symbol in the regex:

str.gsub!(/([;.\\\/?:@&=+$,{}|^\[\]`<>#%"'])/, '*\1*')
                 ^

Else, a valid variable name after @ is expected.

answered Feb 2, 2017 at 9:16

Wiktor Stribiżew

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1 Comment

the Tin Man Over a year ago

I'd recommend reordering the escaped backslash and escaped-slash in the character-set for readability and easier comprehension.

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