String#match_all :: Like String#scan but returns array of MatchData objects instead. (ruby 1.9-ified)

match_all.rb

class String
  # This method will return an array of MatchData's rather than the
  # array of strings returned by the vanilla `scan`.
  def match_all(regex)
    match_str = self

    [].tap do |match_datas|
      while md = match_str.match(regex)
        match_datas << md
        match_str = md.post_match
      end
    end
  end
end

match_all_spec.rb

describe String do
  describe :match_all do
    it "it works like scan, but uses MatchData objects instead of arrays and strings" do
      mds = "ABC-123, DEF-456, GHI-098".match_all(/(?<word>[A-Z]+)-(?<number>[0-9]+)/)
      mds[0][:word].should   == "ABC"
      mds[0][:number].should == "123"
      mds[1][:word].should   == "DEF"
      mds[1][:number].should == "456"
      mds[2][:word].should   == "GHI"
      mds[2][:number].should == "098"
    end
  end
end

Thanks! This helped me a lot!