re = /\b\d[^)]*\)/m
str = 'Programming is productive, (achieving a lot, and getting good results), it is often 1) demanding and 2) costly.
Programming is productive, (achieving a lot, and getting good results), it is often 1a b) demanding and 2a a) costly.
Programming is productive, (achieving a lot, and getting good results), it is often 1b) demanding and 2b) costly.
It is not supposed to match ( s s 1)
'
# 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