# # #
# /11/regex_example.rb
# (c) 2009 Jan Lelis <mail@janlelis.de>. MIT License.
# See: https://rbjl.janlelis.com/11-oh-this-sweet-and-tasty-syntactic-sugar
# # #

input_string = '...<a href="https://offline.ifsr.de">Offline Online</a> noch mehr Text.
Und noch ein Link: <a href="https://heise.de/developer">So startet der Tag</a>...'

expr = /<a\s+?href="(\S*?)"/i

# one way to check for first occurrence
match = input_string.match expr
puts match[1] if match

# ...another way using a thread-global, perl-like special variable and the match-operator...
if input_string =~ expr
  puts $~[1]
end

# ...or get every match!
if matchs = input_string.scan expr
  puts matchs
end

# in ruby 1.9 it's also possible to name your groups
if input_string =~ /<a\s+?href="(?<address>\S*?)"/i
  puts $~[:address]
end