Ruby - Invalid Regex

Question

Ruby 1.8.7 says:

/Users/user/.thor/916bf40c98406efffe9700e1ef02da24:194: undefined (?...) sequence: /(?<text>Version:)\s*(?<version>[\d\.]+)/

Ruby 1.9.3-p374 says something similar, but Ruby 1.9.3-p0 works just fine with it.

The actual code that's broken:

pattern = /(?<text>Version:)\s*(?<version>[\d\.]+)/

What am I doing wrong ?

Don't use regex for HTML, use nokogiri or a similar, dedicated parser instead — hd1
– hd1, Commented Apr 29, 2013 at 16:23
Not parsing HTML. I'm parsing a CSS file with very predictable content "Version: 10.10.10" for example. — pyronaur
– pyronaur, Commented Apr 29, 2013 at 16:25

sawa · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-29 16:24:13Z

2

The (?<k>...) notation expresses named capture, which was introduced in Ruby 1.9, which uses Oniguruma regex engine. With Ruby 1.8, you need to either change the regex to not use it, or install Oniguruma or Onigmo (an improved version of Oniguruma introduced in Ruby 2.0).

answered Apr 29, 2013 at 16:24

sawa

169k51 gold badges288 silver badges401 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

pyronaur Over a year ago

But why did I get an error in 1.9.3-p374 then ? I assumed I had something wrong with my regex there.

sawa Over a year ago

I think what is happening is as what Darshan writes.

pyronaur Over a year ago

Thank you for the answer. Updated ruby, everything works out fine.

sawa Over a year ago

Good. I hope you updated to Ruby 2.0 because there is less reason to not switch from 1.9 to 2.0 than not to switch from 1.8 to 1.9.

Darshan Rivka Whittle · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-29 16:29:23Z

2

Your code works fine for me in Ruby 1.9.3-p374. I suspect that what you are doing wrong is still running 1.8.7 when you think you're using 1.9.3-p374. As noted by @sawa, your regex is using a feature introduced in 1.9.

answered Apr 29, 2013 at 16:29

Darshan Rivka Whittle

34.2k7 gold badges97 silver badges114 bronze badges

1 Comment

pyronaur Over a year ago

That was weird. Now after a couple of rvm implodes I've managed to get everything straight. Thanks.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Ruby - Invalid Regex

2 Answers 2

4 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

4 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related