Re: check if string is valid with special cases (updated)

TIMTOWTDI; personally I'd write:

die "invalid format: $string"
    unless $string=~/\A[^,]+(?:,[^,]+){5}\z/;
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Update: Note your specification is a bit unclear, you say "each one of the substrings can contain whatever symbol there is" but then later on say that the strings can't* contain commas. What about, for example, "1,2,3, ,5,6" (which the above regex will call valid)? See also Re: How to ask better questions using Test::More and sample data.

* Update 2: Sorry, I misunderstood your post, you're saying the strings can contain commas. See my reply below.

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Re^2: check if string is valid with special cases by ovedpo15 (Pilgrim) on May 15, 2018 at 10:30 UTC
Im sorry, I meant that the substring can conatin commas in it. nevertheless, is it possible to include a case of space (bad case - "1,2,3, ,4,5") for the regex you wrote? I think its the regex I need.	[reply]
Re^3: check if string is valid with special cases by haukex (Archbishop) on May 15, 2018 at 10:58 UTC
the substring can conatin commas in it Sorry, this doesn't make sense to me. If the input string is `"1,2,3,4,5,6,7"`, then does `$a` get `"1,2"`, or does `$b` get `"2,3"`, and so on... Or is this CSV, as swl correctly pointed out? Then you should use Text::CSV. If not, then as I said, please provide lots of examples of valid input with the expected output, as well as lots of examples of invalid input.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^6: check if string is valid with special cases by ovedpo15 (Pilgrim) on May 15, 2018 at 11:21 UTC
"a ,b,c,d,e" is okay (space with substring) but one space or more (without any symbols) isn't valid. For example: "a, ,c,d,e" or "a,b,c, d,e" are not valid.	[reply]
Re^4: check if string is valid with special cases by ovedpo15 (Pilgrim) on May 15, 2018 at 11:09 UTC
Ok I understand, forget about commas in the substrings. your regex is good and its what I need except it doesn't handle an empty space case: "a,b,c, d,e" (bad case). how can I add it to the regex?	[reply]
Re^5: check if string is valid with special cases by haukex (Archbishop) on May 15, 2018 at 11:17 UTC


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