re = /(?<!\b(?:inc|pease|nope|U.S.A|u.s.w))([.?!]\s+)(\w)/i
str = 'U.S.A. is the country? i want to live in. if you please. yes. nope.
U.S.A. is the country? i want to live inc. if you pease. dope. yes.
U.S.A. is the country? i want to live Inc. if you pease. dope. yes.
u.s.w. and so on. a German abbreviation.
U.s.w. and so on. a German abbreviation.
// str
// .replace(
// (/(?<!\\b(?:inc|pease|nope|U.S.A|u.s.w))([.?!]\\s+)(\\w)/gi),
// (_, $1, $2) => $1 + $2.toUpperCase()
// );
// ... or ...
// str
// .replace(
// (/(?<!inc|pease|nope|U.S.A|u.s.w)([.?!]\\s*)(\\w)/gi),
// (_, $1, $2) => $1 + $2.toUpperCase()
// )
// .replace((/U\\.S\\.W\\./g), \'u.s.w.\');
'
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