re = /^a\..*?\Kain't/mi
str = 'For instance, if in the text below I wanted to replace "ain\'t" with "is not" for lines beginning "a." but not "b.":
a. This ain\'t a worm.
b. No, it ain\'t.
a. Ain\'t a snake, either.
b. No, ain\'t one of them.
a. ain\'t multiple ain\'t and more ain\'t
'
subst = 'is not'
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