match

Returns a MatchData object describing the match, or nil if there was no match. This is equivalent to retrieving the value of the special variable $~ following a normal match. If the second parameter is present, it specifies the position in the string to begin the search.

/(.)(.)(.)/.match("abc")[2]   #=> "b"
/(.)(.)/.match("abc", 1)[2]   #=> "c"

If a block is given, invoke the block with MatchData if match succeed, so that you can write

pat.match(str) {|m| ...}

instead of

if m = pat.match(str)
  ...
end

The return value is a value from block execution in this case.