Get index of string scan results in ruby

Question

I want to get the index as well as the results of a scan

\"abab\".scan(/a/)

I would like to have not only

=> [\"a\", \"a         


        

Answer 1

It surprised me that there isn't any method similar to String#scan which would return array of MatchData objects, similar to String#match. So, if you like monkey-patching, you can combine this with Todd's solution (Enumerator is introduced in 1.9):

class Regexp
  def scan str
    Enumerator.new do |y|
      str.scan(self) do
        y << Regexp.last_match
      end
    end
  end
end
#=> nil
/a/.scan('abab').map{|m| m.offset(0)[0]}
#=> [0, 2]