regex variables

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

is it possible to use a scalar variable in a regex? As in:

$date = "dec";
@months_we_ski = ("nov", "dec");
foreach $month (@months_we_ski) {
 if ($month =~ /$date/) {
  print "yep, we ski in $month\n";
 }
}
[download]

Of course this doesn't work:) but is there something that makes it work? Thanks for any enlightenment, Mike

Comment on regex variables Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: regex variables by btrott (Parson) on Sep 01, 2000 at 03:24 UTC
It does so work! :) Did you try it? Result: `yep, we ski in dec` [download] A few tips, then: If you'll be matching against the same variable (like $date) multiple times, use the /o operator. That way Perl will only compile the regex once, not each time through the loop. You could also compile such a regex using the qr operator. Check that out, as well. Of course, in this case, you might want to just use eq. :) If I misunderstood what you're asking, let me know.	[reply] [d/l]
(bbq) RE: regex variables by BBQ (Curate) on Sep 01, 2000 at 18:33 UTC
I'm not sure I understand the question, and as btrott already said you probably might have wanted to use eq instead. Anyway... `# this works my $date = 'dec'; foreach ('november', 'december') { print "yeah, we ski in $_\n" if /$date/; } # this doesn't my $date = 'december'; foreach ('nov', 'dec') { print "yeah, we ski in $_\n" if /$date/; }` [download] #!/home/bbq/bin/perl # Trust no1!	[reply] [d/l]


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