re = /([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]{1,3}) ?(\d[a-zA-Z]{2})/im
str = 'EC1A 1BB
A9A 9AA
A9 9AA
A99 9AA
AA9 9AA
AA99 9AA
EC1A1BB
A9A9AA
A99AA
A999AA
AA99AA
AA999AA'
subst = '$1 $2'
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