Question

How can one get a list of matches in a string from multiple different Regexps, and have these matches ordered relatively by their position in the string?

The string can contain multiple matches from the same Regexp.

---

Based on sepp2k’s answer, here’s the solution I implemented (simplified example):

test_data = "
  a_word
  another_word  
  23445
  12432423
  third_word
"

regexps = /(?<word>[a-zA-Z_]+)/, /(?<number>[\d]+)/
words = regexps.map{|re| re.names}.flatten!

matches = []
test_data.scan(Regexp.union(regexps)) do
  words.each do |word|
    m = Regexp.last_match
    matches << {word => m.to_s} if m[word]
  end
end

p matches

This outputs:

[{"word"=>"a_word"}, {"word"=>"another_word"}, {"number"=>"23445"}, {"number"=>"12432423"}, {"word"=>"third_word"}]

Answer 1

You can use Regexp.union to turn all the regexps into one regexp and then use String#scan to find all matches. The array returned by scan will be ordered by the position of the match.