ruby--ruby/doc/string/index.rdoc

Returns the integer index of the first match for the given argument,
or +nil+ if none found;
the search of +self+ is forward, and begins at position +offset+ (in characters).

With string argument +substring+,
returns the index of the first matching substring in +self+:

  'foo'.index('f')         # => 0
  'foo'.index('o')         # => 1
  'foo'.index('oo')        # => 1
  'foo'.index('ooo')       # => nil
  'тест'.index('с')        # => 2
  'こんにちは'.index('ち')   # => 3

With Regexp argument +regexp+, returns the index of the first match in +self+:

  'foo'.index(/o./) # => 1
  'foo'.index(/.o/) # => 0

With positive integer +offset+, begins the search at position +offset+:

  'foo'.index('o', 1)        # => 1
  'foo'.index('o', 2)        # => 2
  'foo'.index('o', 3)        # => nil
  'тест'.index('с', 1)       # => 2
  'こんにちは'.index('ち', 2)  # => 3

With negative integer +offset+, selects the search position by counting backward
from the end of +self+:

  'foo'.index('o', -1)  # => 2
  'foo'.index('o', -2)  # => 1
  'foo'.index('o', -3)  # => 1
  'foo'.index('o', -4)  # => nil
  'foo'.index(/o./, -2) # => 1
  'foo'.index(/.o/, -2) # => 1

Related: String#rindex.