As our friend notes, you mean: 

my ($match) = $string =~ /(<ab>|ab)/;

[download]
Update: Ok, I didn't read the spec carefully enough, I think this will do it: 
my ($match) = $string =~ /(?!<ab[^>]|[^<]ab>)<?(ab)>?/

[download]
But I'd probably split it into two regexes.

I'm talking twaddle, anyone else want a go?


davis
It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.

In reply to Re: Re: Help with Regular Expression matching by davis
in thread Help with Regular Expression matching by Anonymous Monk

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