re = /From:\s+(?<from>.*?)\s+To:\s+(?<to>.*?)\s+Subject:\s+(?<subject>.*?)(?:\s+References: (?<ref>.*?))?$/m
str = 'Text of variable length spread across several lines Serialization-type text separated by colons (eg ABC:DEF:GHI) A date
From: One line of text To: One or more lines Subject: One or more lines References: One or more lines
From: One line of text To: One
or
more
lines Subject: One or more lines References: One or more lines
From: One line of text To: One or more lines Subject: No references.
From: One line of text To: One or more lines Subject: One
or
more
lines
References: One or more lines
Paragraph 1 Title: A paragraph
Paragraph 2 Title: Another paragraph'
# 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