Help with Metacharacters syntax

JJB has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have problems with 2 different if statements that use metacharacters.

if (/(abuse\@.* )/)
 {
  $abuse_email = ${1};
 }
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The data line it's reading looks like this,

    remarks:  Please report all problems to abuse@xxxxx.xxx for probes
+, port scans etc.
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print($abuse_email) shows that it contains abuse@xxxxx.xxx for probes, port scans etc. The xxxxx.xxx can be any size, and any characters How do I change the if statement so I only get the abuse@xxxxx.xxx string? Problem 2.

If (/(Net-.??-.??-.??-0-1)/)
 {
  $net_block = ${1};
 }
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The data is (Net-xxx-xxx-xxx-0-1) Each xxx group will all ways by 1 to 3 digits long and different combinations every time. When matched I want $net_block just to hold Net-xxx-xxx-xxx-0-1 What is the correct syntax? Thanks

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Re: Help with Metacharacters syntax by Zaxo (Archbishop) on May 29, 2004 at 23:00 UTC
With disclaimers about matching general email addresses, the first problem is solved when you realize you want the regex to stop matching on whitespace. You have `.` there which matches all of anything. Try this, `if (/(abuse\@\S)/) { # ... }` [download] For the second problem, you want quantifiers, `if (/(Net-\d{1,3)-\d{1,3)-\d{1,3)-0-1)/) { # ... }` [download] See perlre and perlretut, which you can view locally with perldoc. After Compline, Zaxo	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Help with Metacharacters syntax by JJB (Novice) on Jun 20, 2004 at 14:53 UTC
some of the email address are not surrounded by white space. <abuse#tel2.it> or abuse#tel2.it or \abuse#tel2.it\ I need to be able to capture email address that are either surrounded by space or enclosed with special characters but have the special characters dropped.	[reply]