re = /^(?:[^>-]+[^\S\r\n]*->[^\S\r\n]*[^>-]+)?$/m
str = 'word1->word2
word1 -> word2
word1 -> word2->word3
word1 -> word2->word3->Word4
word1->
word1
->word2
my django db->my django db
word1->word2
word1 -> word2
'
# 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