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I have this:

str = "some html code [img]......[/img] some html code [img]......[/img]"

and I want to get this:

["[img]......[/img]","[img]......[/img]"]
Willi Mentzel
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squarezw
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4 Answers4

46

Please don't use BBCode. It's evil.

BBCode came to life when developers were too lazy to parse HTML correctly and decided to invent their own markup language. As with all products of laziness, the result is completely inconsistent, unstandardized, and widely adopted.

Try to use a user-friendlier markup language, like Markdown (that's what Stack Overflow uses) or Textile. Both of them have parsers for Ruby:

If you still don't want to heed to my advice and choose to go with BBCode, don't reinvent the wheel and use a BBCode parser. To answer your question directly, there is the least desirable option: use regex.

/\[img\].*?\[\/img\]/

As seen on rubular. Although I would use /\[img\](.*?)\[\/img\]/, so it will extract the contents inside the img tags. Note that this is fairly fragile and will break if there are nested img tags. Hence, the advice to use a parser.

Matthias Braun
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NullUserException
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  • +1 just for the quote. although it's a parser, not an interpreter. – muhmuhten Sep 25 '10 at 03:03
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    @sre I knew I couldn't be the *only* one who hated BBCode with a passion. – NullUserException Sep 25 '10 at 03:06
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    bbcode is an ill-conceived, badly-designed, and generally poorly-implemented html knock-off. its sole redeeming quality is that it tends to be shorter than html. and of course, that's not hard to do. – muhmuhten Sep 25 '10 at 03:10
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    +1 BBCode is actually HTML with square brackets and synonyms. – BoltClock Oct 07 '10 at 01:17
  • `BBCode came to life when developers were too lazy to parse HTML correctly and decided to invent their own markup language.` It is not a solid argument but rather a subjective opinion. BBcodes have been there for a long time and are still used on forums. People know them. Instead, what in the world is Textile? I haven't heard of it. And I'm sure most people as well. Why reinvent a new bicycle if the old one is firmly doing its job? – user2513149 Jan 22 '18 at 20:54
  • What's the source of the quote? – Nathan Hinchey Mar 22 '19 at 20:55
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irb(main):001:0> str = "some html code [img]......[/img] some html \
code [img]......[/img]"
"some html code [img]......[/img] some html code [img]......[/img]"
irb(main):002:0> str.scan(/\[img\].*?\[\/img\]/)
["[img]......[/img]", "[img]......[/img]"]

Keep in mind that this is a very specific answer that is based on your exact question. Change str by, say, adding an image tag within an image tag, and all Hell will break loose.

Community
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Yaser Sulaiman
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4

There is a ruby BBCODE parser at Google Code.

Don't use regex for this.

Willi Mentzel
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Tomalak
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  • @square:: Hm, my reading is that with a parser you can create any output you like, be it HTML or a simple array. This parser is a suggestion only, there are others, I'm sure. Key point is: Your time is better spent figuring out how to use a parser for this than trying to do it with regex. Even if it seems the other way around at first. – Tomalak Sep 24 '10 at 21:22
-1
str = "some html code [img]......[/img] some html code [img]......[/img]"
p str.split("[/img]").each{|x|x.sub!(/.*\[img\]/,"")}
ghostdog74
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