re = /^(.+?)\|.*[^ ]\K *\r?\n\1/m
str = 'apple|pear
apple|quince
apple cider|juice
banana|plantain
cherry|cheerful, crimson
cherry|ruddy
cherry|cerise
'
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