Either solution will handle that.

The simple solution will often not work if it is part of a larger regex. For example,

    /<%(.*?)%> home <%(.*?)%>/ =~
    "Go <% now %> to <% your %> home <% if %> you <% can %>"
    #   ^^(^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^)^^^^^^^^^^(^^)^^
[download]

will match as shown on that third line. Note that the first part matches too much. This is because a non-greedy part prefers to match sooner at the expense of being "more greedy" than to fail to match or to match later.

                - tye