re = /^(.*?_.*?_.*?)_/m
str = 'john_doe_13456_20_m_v5
john_doe_13456_20_m_n7_abc
john_doe_13456_20_m_t44
john_doe_13456_20_m_m13_bca_1
john_doe_13456_20_m_v5'
subst = '\\1 '
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