我有点喜欢使用类似的东西：

asdf = "[12,23,987,43"
asdf[0] = ''

p asdf
# >> "12,23,987,43"

我一直在寻找最快、最易读的做事方式：

require 'benchmark'

N = 1_000_000

puts RUBY_VERSION

STR = "[12,23,987,43"

Benchmark.bm(7) do |b|
  b.report('[0]') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[0] = '' } }
  b.report('sub') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".sub(/^\[+/, "") } }

  b.report('gsub') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".gsub(/^\[/, "") } }
  b.report('[1..-1]') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[1..-1] } }
  b.report('slice') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".slice!(0) } }
  b.report('length') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[1..STR.length] } }

end

在我的 Mac Pro 上运行：

1.9.3
              user     system      total        real
[0]       0.840000   0.000000   0.840000 (  0.847496)
sub       1.960000   0.010000   1.970000 (  1.962767)
gsub      4.350000   0.020000   4.370000 (  4.372801)
[1..-1]   0.710000   0.000000   0.710000 (  0.713366)
slice     1.020000   0.000000   1.020000 (  1.020336)
length    1.160000   0.000000   1.160000 (  1.157882)

更新以合并另一个建议的答案：

require 'benchmark'

N = 1_000_000

class String
  def eat!(how_many = 1)
    self.replace self[how_many..-1]
  end

  def first(how_many = 1)
    self[0...how_many]
  end

  def shift(how_many = 1)
    shifted = first(how_many)
    self.replace self[how_many..-1]
    shifted
  end
  alias_method :shift!, :shift
end

class Array
  def eat!(how_many = 1)
    self.replace self[how_many..-1]
  end
end

puts RUBY_VERSION

STR = "[12,23,987,43"

Benchmark.bm(7) do |b|
  b.report('[0]') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[0] = '' } }
  b.report('sub') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".sub(/^\[+/, "") } }

  b.report('gsub') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".gsub(/^\[/, "") } }
  b.report('[1..-1]') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[1..-1] } }
  b.report('slice') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".slice!(0) } }
  b.report('length') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[1..STR.length] } }
  b.report('eat!') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".eat! } }
  b.report('reverse') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".reverse.chop.reverse } }
end

结果是：

2.1.2
              user     system      total        real
[0]       0.300000   0.000000   0.300000 (  0.295054)
sub       0.630000   0.000000   0.630000 (  0.631870)
gsub      2.090000   0.000000   2.090000 (  2.094368)
[1..-1]   0.230000   0.010000   0.240000 (  0.232846)
slice     0.320000   0.000000   0.320000 (  0.320714)
length    0.340000   0.000000   0.340000 (  0.341918)
eat!      0.460000   0.000000   0.460000 (  0.452724)
reverse   0.400000   0.000000   0.400000 (  0.399465)

另一个/^./用于查找第一个字符：

require 'benchmark'

N = 1_000_000

class String
  def eat!(how_many = 1)
    self.replace self[how_many..-1]
  end

  def first(how_many = 1)
    self[0...how_many]
  end

  def shift(how_many = 1)
    shifted = first(how_many)
    self.replace self[how_many..-1]
    shifted
  end
  alias_method :shift!, :shift
end

class Array
  def eat!(how_many = 1)
    self.replace self[how_many..-1]
  end
end

puts RUBY_VERSION

STR = "[12,23,987,43"

Benchmark.bm(7) do |b|
  b.report('[0]') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[0] = '' } }
  b.report('[/^./]') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[/^./] = '' } }
  b.report('[/^\[/]') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[/^\[/] = '' } }
  b.report('sub+') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".sub(/^\[+/, "") } }
  b.report('sub') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".sub(/^\[/, "") } }
  b.report('gsub') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".gsub(/^\[/, "") } }
  b.report('[1..-1]') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[1..-1] } }
  b.report('slice') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".slice!(0) } }
  b.report('length') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43"[1..STR.length] } }
  b.report('eat!') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".eat! } }
  b.report('reverse') { N.times { "[12,23,987,43".reverse.chop.reverse } }
end

结果是：

# >> 2.1.5
# >>               user     system      total        real
# >> [0]       0.270000   0.000000   0.270000 (  0.270165)
# >> [/^./]    0.430000   0.000000   0.430000 (  0.432417)
# >> [/^\[/]   0.460000   0.000000   0.460000 (  0.458221)
# >> sub+      0.590000   0.000000   0.590000 (  0.590284)
# >> sub       0.590000   0.000000   0.590000 (  0.596366)
# >> gsub      1.880000   0.010000   1.890000 (  1.885892)
# >> [1..-1]   0.230000   0.000000   0.230000 (  0.223045)
# >> slice     0.300000   0.000000   0.300000 (  0.299175)
# >> length    0.320000   0.000000   0.320000 (  0.325841)
# >> eat!      0.410000   0.000000   0.410000 (  0.409306)
# >> reverse   0.390000   0.000000   0.390000 (  0.393044)

这是更快的硬件和更新版本的 Ruby 的另一个更新：

2.3.1
              user     system      total        real
[0]       0.200000   0.000000   0.200000 (  0.204307)
[/^./]    0.390000   0.000000   0.390000 (  0.387527)
[/^\[/]   0.360000   0.000000   0.360000 (  0.360400)
sub+      0.490000   0.000000   0.490000 (  0.492083)
sub       0.480000   0.000000   0.480000 (  0.487862)
gsub      1.990000   0.000000   1.990000 (  1.988716)
[1..-1]   0.180000   0.000000   0.180000 (  0.181673)
slice     0.260000   0.000000   0.260000 (  0.266371)
length    0.270000   0.000000   0.270000 (  0.267651)
eat!      0.400000   0.010000   0.410000 (  0.398093)
reverse   0.340000   0.000000   0.340000 (  0.344077)

为什么 gsub 这么慢？

进行搜索/替换后，gsub必须先检查可能的其他匹配项，然后才能判断是否完成。sub只做一个并完成。考虑gsub至少是两个sub电话。

此外，重要的是要记住gsub,
并且sub也可能被写得不好的正则表达式所阻碍，它的匹配速度比子字符串搜索要慢得多。如果可能的话，锚定正则表达式以获得最快的速度。Stack
Overflow 上的答案表明，如果您想了解更多信息，请四处搜索。