Question

I have strings that use simple_format so they always have p tags surrounding them. I have some code to strip those surrounding p tags but I know there has to be a better way. How would you simplify the following code?

<% my_string = "something" %>
<% my_string = simple_format my_string %>

Of course, my_string ends up with <p>something</p>

This removes the opening p tag. 
<% my_string[0..2] = "" %>

This removes the closing p tag.
<% my_string.chop! %>
<% my_string.chop! %>
<% my_string.chop! %>
<% my_string.chop! %>

Note: I don’t want to remove ALL p tags, only the ones added by simple_format.

Answer 1

If you’ve already applied the p tags:

mystring = "<p>something</p>"
# => "<p>something</p>"
mystring[3..-5]
# => "something"