Ruby: generating new Regexps from strings

Question

Is there any way to convert String to Regexp (in Ruby)? Let's say:

'example' ---> /example/

My purpose is generating Regexps dynamically.

Answer 1

regexp = Regexp.new(string)

or

regexp = /#{string}/

If it is possible that string has special characters, then:

regexp = Regexp.new(Regexp.escape(string))

or

regexp = /#{Regexp.escape(string)}/

Answer 2

You can also write...

regex = Regexp.compile(string)

...which is a very descriptive name. This method compiles the source code (string) into a nondeterministic finite automaton (regex). The NFA can then be reused over and over.

Answer 3

you can try /#{your variable}/