re = /(?<='.*)\bday(?=s\b|\b)/m
str = '\'*** This day is the day of all days
\'*** This day is the day of all days
Dim day as integer \'so far so good today but maybe not another day
day=day+1 \'a daystar is a planet visible in the east before sunrise
Regex is not perfect
text1.Text = "\'day" \' we don\'t want to change that one
'
subst = 'night'
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