http://snippets.dzone.com/posts Sun, 18 May 2008 06:00:28 GMT DZone Snippets: greedy code http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/5103 The greedy expression can be seen as a True *and* False predicate, meaning true while the token is valid, while being false if the pattern matching hasn't been exhausted. <br />The lazy expression is the True *or* False predicate, meaning true while the token is valid, or false if the pattern match hasn't been fully exhausted. <br /> <br /><code> <br />irb(main):037:0> "<EM>first</EM>"[/<.+>/] #greedy <br />=> "<EM>first</EM>" <br />irb(main):038:0> "<EM>first</EM>"[/<.+?>/] #lazy <br />=> "<EM>" <br />irb(main):039:0> "<EM>first</EM>"[/<[^<>]+>/] # better solution <br />=> "<EM>" <br /></code> <br />source: <a href="http://www.regular-expressions.info/quickstart.html">Regular Expression Quick Start</a> [regular-expressions.info] Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:09:56 GMT http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/5103 jrobertson (James Robertson)