re = /^ # begin of string
(?:(?!(?:\1|\2|\3)).)*? # ungreedy anything that is not captured by group 1,2,or 3
( # 1th capturing group
(?:\brain\b|\bsunlight\b|\bbark) # Alternation group (answers) \b word-boundaries as needed
)
(?:(?!(?:\1|\2|\3)).)*? # ungreedy anything that is not captured by group 1,2,or 3
( # 3th capturing group
(?:(?!(?:\1|\3))(?:\brain\b|\bsunlight\b|\bbark)) # Answers not captured in group 1 or 3
)
(?:(?!(?:\1|\2|\3)).)*? # ungreedy anything that is not captured by group 1,2,or 3
( # 4th capturing group
(?:(?!(?:\2|\3))(?:\brain\b|\bsunlight\b|\bbark)) # Answers not captured by group 2 or 3
)
(?:(?!(?:\1|\2|\3)).)* # anything that is not captured by group 1,2,or 3
$ # end of string/xmi
str = 'rain. bright sunlight. a dog\'s bark.
rain. bright rain. a dog\'s bark.
Barksunlight rain
bark sun rain
bar sunlight sunlight
Rain rain rain
sunlight rain bark
Barking dog, sunlight, rainforest
Barking elephant, green Sunlight, purple rain and other non-sense
'
# 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