def matches?(string, what)
      Regexp === what ? string.strip =~ what : string == what.to_s
    end
def matches?(string, what)
      Regexp === what ? string.strip =~ what : string == what.to_s
    end
Used internally.

 @param [String] string The string to match against.
 @param [Regexp, String, #to_s] what The match we're looking for.
 @return [Fixnum, true, false, nil]

 @api private