in reply to Pattern matching "dirty" data sources

I'm not at all sure I've read you question correctly, but is this the output you are looking for from your sample input? (The quotes are just a sanity check and easily removed)

C:\test>254403 'V_PAID_USERS' 'V_OVERDUE' 'UNPAID_USERS' 'receipts'

#! perl -slw use strict; $/ = ""; # Set paragraph mode (see Perlvar:$/) while( <DATA>) { m[(\w+)\s+as]i and print "'$1'"; } __DATA__ create view V_PAID_USERS as select * from users u, subcription s where u.user_id=s.user_id and s.balance =< 0; CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW V_OVERDUE AS select * from users u, subscription s where u.user_id=s.user_id and s.duedate > 60; create TABLE UNPAID_USERS as select * from users u, subcription s where u.user_id=s.user_id and s +.balance > 0; create view receipts as select * from unpaid_users;

Setting $/ to '' enables paragraph mode, and which allows you to read each complete statement as a single string. Using the keyword "AS" as an anchor, seems to select the table or view name in each statement. You can easily change \w+ to be more selective about which ones get captured.

As always, if I got it completely wrong, simply ignore me:)


Examine what is said, not who speaks.
1) When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2) The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible
3) Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke.