my %trans = (
   1 => "one",
   2 => "two",
   ...
   z => "zulu",
);
foreach (split //, $line) {
    if (exists $trans{$_}) {
        print $trans{$_}, " ";
    } else {
        print $_, " ";
    }
}
[download]

Oh, I have used split a zillion times and because I didn't have a character (like , ) to split on I didn't realize I could use it. (No I don't know what I am doing.)

I am sure everyone knows, but in case there is someone who does not there needs to be semi-colon after the hash for the code to compile:

my %trans = (
   1 => "one",
   2 => "two",
   ...
   z => "zulu",
) ;  #<---note semi-colon
foreach (split //, $line) {
....
[download]

Oh and to deal with the case thing I did this:

print "Enter some letters and numbers:  " ;
my $line = <STDIN> ;
chomp $line ;
$print = lc $line ;
...
foreach (split //, $print) {
...
[download]


--
ellem@optonline.net
There's more than one way to do it, but only some of them actually work.

You'll probably want to lc either $line or each split character, unless you want to distinguish between upper and lower, in which case (forgive the pun) you'll need something like 'a'=>alpha, 'A'=>ALPHA in your lookup hash.

Whitespace may also be confusing to the user - certain rendering systems (HTML for instance) ignore multiple spaces, so you may want to add something like ' '=>'space'.

Cheers, Ben.

If the case matters, you could use this

my %trans = (
   a => "alpha",
   b => "beta",
   ...
   z => "zulu"
);

my $line = 'AbZaBz';

foreach (split //, $line) {
    if (exists $trans{lc($_)}) {
        print (($_ ne lc($_)) ? uc($trans{lc($_)}) : $trans{$_});
    } else {
        print $_;
    }
    print ' ';
}

__OUTPUT__
ALPHA beta ZULU alpha BETA zulu
[download]

You can see the outcome at this link. It is a full implementation of a phonetic alphabet translator, using an anonymous hash as the lookup table.

Have fun with it. If you want a de-obfu version for clarity let me know and I'll post it. But in reality the one I posted isn't all that obscure.

Dave

"If I had my life to do over again, I'd be a plumber." -- Albert Einstein

Obviously not complete or most efficient form, but just a few things to think about.

Enjoy!
dageek

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
my $str = 'One day my 2 sisters gave me 100% of thier work. "How could
+ they?" I asked at 8:00 P.M.. "Easily" replied my subconcious, "Those
+ two want to go too.';


print "original string:\n$str\n\n";
## do all your special replacements in the order that works for most s
+ituations.
$str =~ s/100/ one hundred /g;
$str =~ s/00/ double ought /g;
$str =~ s/0/ zero /g;
$str =~ s/1/ one /g;
$str =~ s/2/ two /g;
$str =~ s/8/ eight /g;
$str =~ s/%/ percent /g;
$str =~ s/\?/ question mark /g;
$str =~ s/\./ period /g;
$str =~ s/\:/ colon /g;
$str =~ s/\"/ quotation mark /g;
## lower case all letters/ or if you like pain,
## prepend all upper case letters with the words "upper case"
$str=~s/([A-Z])/upper case $1/g;
$str=lc($str);
## make multiple spaces equal to one space
$str=~s/\s+/ /g;
## now Phoneticize to your heart's content
my %tran = ( a => " alpha ",
           b=>" bravo ",
           c=>" charlie ",
           d=>" delta ",
           e=>" echo ",
           f=>" foxtrot ",
           g=>" golf ",
           h=>" hotel ",
           i=>" indian ",
           j=>" juliet ",
           k=>" kilo ",
           l=>" lima ",
           m=>" mike ",
           n=>" november ",
           o=>" oscar ",
           p=>" papa ",
           q=>" quebec ",
           r=>" romeo ",
           s=>" siera ",
           t=>" tango ",
           u=>" uniform ",
           v=>" victor ",
           w=>" whiskey ",
           x=>" xray ",
           y=>" yankee ",
           z=>" zulu "
         );

print "$str\n\n";
my $endstr = "";
## now create the phoneticized sentence
foreach (split //, $str)
{
    if (exists $tran{$_})
    {
        $endstr = $endstr .  "$tran{$_}";
    }
    else
    {
## or add $_ as another answer suggested
        $endstr = $endstr .  "/";
    }
}
## get rid of extra spaces
$endstr=~ s/\s+/ /g;
## show em your stuff
print "$endstr\n";
[download]