re = /(?<!\\)![^!\\.]*(?:(?:\.(?!\.\.)|(?=(\.{3}.*?\.{3}))\1|\\.)[^!\\.]*)*!/m
str = '!Normal string!
!String with escaped \\! exclamation mark!
!String with a comment ... comment ...!
!String \\! with both ... comments can have unescaped exclamation marks!!!... !
test ...this is a comment... test
\\!String \\! with both ... comments can have unescaped exclamation marks!!!...... !
!S...test...\\!tring \\! with both ... comments can have unescaped exclamation marks ...test...\\!tring \\! with both ... comments can have unescaped exclamation marks ...test...\\!tring \\! with both ... comments can have unescaped exclamation marks ...test...\\!tring \\! with both ... comments can have unescaped exclamation marks ...test...\\!tring \\! with both ... comments can have unescaped exclamation marks
'
# 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