re = /\b(?<!\w)((?:north|south)?(?:east|west)?)\b(?!\w)/m
str = 'The westerly barn is a room. The field is east of the barn. The stable is northeast of the field. The forest is northwest of the field.'
# 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