module Regexp::Expression::Shared

lit.to_s(:original) # => 'a +' # with quantifier AND intermittent decorations
lit.to_s(:base) # => 'a' # without quantifier
lit.to_s(:full) # => 'a+' # default; with quantifier
lit.to_s # => 'a+' # default; with quantifier

lit = Regexp::Parser.parse(/a +/x)[0]

Example:

It takes an optional format argument.

#to_s reproduces the original source, as an unparser would.

def to_s(format = :full)
  base = parts.each_with_object(''.dup) do |part, buff|
    if part.instance_of?(String)
      buff << part
    elsif !part.custom_to_s_handling
      buff << part.to_s(:original)
    end
  end
  "#{base}#{pre_quantifier_decoration(format)}#{quantifier_affix(format)}"
end