Regex can't find match

sherab has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello monks! I am generally ok with regexes but this one has me stumped. I am doing a massive search and replace operation across a few hundred pages and I seem to have a problem getting my match found. I have enough code below to recreate the problem.... (the href reference is an exact cut and paste).

#!/usr/bin/perl

$text = 'YAY! <a href="/cgi-bin/ruling?candy=265-23&path=/rules/other/
+265-23&file_num=265-23&action=Show_Form" class="subCat9">Click to sub
+mit</a> YAY!';

$find='<a href="/cgi-bin/ruling?candy=265-23&path=/rules/other/265-23&
+file_num=265-23&action=Show_Form" class="subCat9">Click to submit</a>
+';

$replace="This is a replacement";

# Would like to see
# YAY! This is a replacement YAY!

$text=~s/$find/$replace/g;

print $text;

# I get
# YAY! <a href="/cgi-bin/ruling?candy=265-23&path=/rules/other/265-23&
+file_num=265-23&action=Show_Form" class="subCat9">Click to submit</a>
+ YAY!
[download]

I am guessing it's some sort of interpolation issue maybe? Does anyone have a clue ?
Thank you so much for your advice. Sherab

Comment on Regex can't find match Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Regex can't find match by toolic (Bishop) on Apr 07, 2014 at 18:59 UTC
quotemeta `$find=quotemeta '<a href="/cgi-bin/ruling?candy=265-23&path=/rules/oth +er/265-23&file_num=265-23&action=Show_Form" class="subCat9">Click to +submit</a>';` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Regex can't find match by sherab (Scribe) on Apr 07, 2014 at 19:08 UTC
OMG toolic, you have saved me so much trouble. Thank you very much. Now to get familiar with quotemeta.	[reply]
Re^3: Regex can't find match by AnomalousMonk (Archbishop) on Apr 07, 2014 at 20:05 UTC
Specifically, the `?` quantifier regex metacharacter. See Quantifiers in perlre. Instead of quotemeta, you could also use `$text=~s/\Q$find\E/$replace/g;`	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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