in reply to Re: Using Regex to extract variable-length substring
in thread Using Regex to extract variable-length substring

PERFECT! Tank ya berry much! I love the simplicity that regex can bring to solving a problem.

StrangeDucks

I REALLY need to learn regex

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Re^3: Using Regex to extract variable-length substring
by Laurent_R (Canon) on Oct 29, 2013 at 23:00 UTC

    I REALLY need to learn regex

    Just do it. ;-) I know that the task may look a bit daunting at first, and something like  /\[(.+?)]/ may look like cryptic noise for some one not knowing how to interpret those funny characters, but it is actually fairly easy to understand and learn the basics of regexes if given the proper explanations or the right tutorial. Granted, regexes can become fairly hairy, but for more common tasks, it is definitely worth the effort, especially when developing in Perl.

      "... or the right tutorial"

      I shudder at the thought of trying to find one on the web... one that doesn't have errors or teach bad practice. Too many sites simply echo other sites, garbage and all and post as their own. I may just break down and buy a book on it - I was thinking of the O'Reilly one. I've had good success with their perl series. Any of other suggestions would be welcome.

        Jeffrey Friedl's Mastering Regular Expressions is really an authority on the subject. It is a O' Reilly book. Not entirely sure, though, that it is the best for a pure beginner. I *think* that it can be downloaded for free (in due respect of the law, that is), but am not entirely sure.