re = /(\w+|[-.;?!,:])/ix
str = 'However, I now have words like these:
Word-another-word
more_words_like_these
and I would like to be able to retain the integrity of these words as they are (connected) but my current preg_match breaks them down into individual words.'
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