re = /(?<=id:\s*'[^']*?)\s(?=[^']*')/m
str = 'var user1 = {id: \'Alan Banks\'};
var user2 = {id: \'Chris Daily\'};
var user1 = {id: \'Alan Banks TEXT here\'};
var user2 = {id: \'Chris Daily More text\'};'
subst = '_'
result = str.gsub(re, subst)
# Print the result of the substitution
puts result
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Ruby, please visit: http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/Regexp.html