re = /(?>(?:(?:^|,|\r?\n)\s*)(?:"[^"\\]*(?:\\[\S\s][^"\\]*)*"(?:\s*(?:(?=,|\r?\n)|$))|[^,]*(?:\s*(?:(?=,)|$))))*?(?>(?:^|,|\r?\n)\s*)\K"([^"\\]*?(?:\\[\S\s][^"\\]*?)*,[^"\\]*(?:\\[\S\s][^"\\]*)*)"/
str = '243,"p s","","","","Smith, Ph.D.","11872","Canada","",29,,,"","","","","","","UT","",,"","Bic. Gaspe",,,,"Dry cliffs",,"","","","","47633","","","","",1938,7,126839
ID,NAME,TITLE,DESCRIPTION,,
PRO1234,"JOHN SMITH",ENGINEER,"JOHN HAS BEEN WORKING
HARD ON BEING A GOOD
SERVENT."
PRO1235,"KEITH SMITH",ENGINEER,"keith, has been working
hard on being a good
servent."
PRO1235,"KENNY SMITH",,"keith has been working
hard on being a good
servent."
PRO1235,"RICK SMITH",,,'
# Print the match result
str.scan(re) do |match|
puts match.to_s
end
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