Re: obtaining the three leftmost characters of a string

If you're sure that - or some other delimeter will always be present and in the same position, split would suit your example...

 # left = 555, right = 4587
my($left,$right) = split( /-/ => $string, 2 );
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If you really wanted only the first three regardless of content, then take a look at substr...

 # left = 555, string = 555-4587
my($left) = substr( $string => 0, 3 );

 # leftmost = 555, string = -4587
my($left) = substr( $string => 0, 3, "" );
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--k.

Comment on Re: obtaining the three leftmost characters of a string Select or Download Code

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•Fat Arrow abuse (was Re: Re: obtaining the three leftmost characters of a string) by merlyn (Sage) on Jun 10, 2002 at 14:33 UTC
Please do not use arrow as a synonym for comma except in the privacy of your own cubicle. Otherwise, in the most general case, it can lead to breakage. Witness: `@things = split /,/ => $input; # works use constant DELIMITER => ','; @things = split DELIMITER => $input; # BREAKS (treats DELIMITER as a q +uoted word) @things = split DELIMITER, $input; # works` [download] Fat arrow should be used only when the quoting powers are wanted, and possibly to set up hash key/value pairs, paying special care to in-scope "use constants". -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker	[reply] [d/l]

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•Fat Arrow abuse (was Re: Re: obtaining the three leftmost characters of a string)
by merlyn (Sage) on Jun 10, 2002 at 14:33 UTC

@things = split /,/ => $input; # works
use constant DELIMITER => ',';
@things = split DELIMITER => $input; # BREAKS (treats DELIMITER as a q
+uoted word)
@things = split DELIMITER, $input; # works
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-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

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