This seems to get closed to the required output:

Updated: Corrected fencepost-ish error.

Update2: Added a second pass to condense it a bit.

#! perl -slw use strict; ( my $input = do{ local $/; <DATA> } ) =~ tr[\n][]d; my $tab = 0; $input =~ s[([()])]{ $tab-- if $1 eq ')'; my $modified = "\n" . ( " " x $tab ) . $1; $tab++ if $1 eq '('; $modified; }ge; $input =~ s[\n\s+\)][)]g; print $input; __DATA__ (&(&(&(& (mailnickname=*) (| (&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=use +r)(!(homeM DB=*))(!(msExchHomeServerName=*)))(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClas +s=user)(| (homeMDB=*)(msExchHomeServerName=*)))(&(objectCategory=person)(objectC +lass=cont act))(objectCategory=group)(objectCategory=publicFolder)(objectCategor +y=msExchD ynamicDistributionList) )))(objectCategory=contact)(proxyAddresses=smt +p:*exampl e.com)))

Yields:

P:\test>junk1 (& (& (& (& (mailnickname=*) (| (& (objectCategory=person) (objectClass=user) (! (homeMDB=*)) (! (msExchHomeServerName=*))) (& (objectCategory=person) (objectClass=user) (| (homeMDB=*) (msExchHomeServerName=*))) (& (objectCategory=person) (objectClass=contact)) (objectCategory=group) (objectCategory=publicFolder) (objectCategory=msExchDynamicDistributionList) ))) (objectCategory=contact) (proxyAddresses=smtp:*example.com)) )

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

In reply to Re: Making an LDAP filter more readable by BrowserUk
in thread Making an LDAP filter more readable by bronto

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":



  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.