re = /^(\S++).*\K(?:\R\1(?:\h.*|$))+/m
str = 'john jane
john 123
john jim jane
jane john
jane 123
jane 456
jim
jim 1'
subst = ''
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