Adding formatting to a string

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Adding formatting to a string by Sidhekin (Priest) on Jun 16, 2004 at 01:57 UTC
Do you want to insert a hyphen in the middle of the string? `substr($string, (length $string)/2, 0) = '-';` [download] ... or insert a hyphen after the fourth character? `substr($string, 4, 0) = '-';` [download] ... or insert a hyphen after every fourth character, but not at the end? `$string =~ s/(.{4})(?=.)/$1-/g;` [download] ... or something else? `print "Just another Perl ${\(trickster and hacker)},"` The Sidhekin proves Sidhe did it!	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Adding formatting to a string by Anonymous Monk on Jun 16, 2004 at 07:23 UTC
Even simpler: `substr($string,4,0,"-")` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Adding formatting to a string by Not_a_Number (Prior) on Jun 16, 2004 at 07:38 UTC
You could simplify your own snippet somewhat: `$string = join '-', unpack 'A4 A*', $string;`	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Adding formatting to a string by ambrus (Abbot) on Jun 16, 2004 at 09:17 UTC
`$string=~s/(....)/$1-/s;` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Adding formatting to a string by Anonymous Monk on Jun 16, 2004 at 10:31 UTC
`$string =~ s/DF/D-F/g;` [download] or more generic `$string =~ s/^(.{4})/$1\-/g;` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Adding formatting to a string by injunjoel (Priest) on Jun 17, 2004 at 17:07 UTC
Greetings all, Here is my suggested solution: `#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my $string = "ABCDEFGH"; print $string."<= before\n\n"; my $regexp = '\w{'.int(length($string)/2).'}'; $string =~ s/($regexp)/$1-/; print $string."<= after\n\n"; exit;` [download] It outputs: `ABCDEFGH<= before ABCD-EFGH<= after` [download] However this assumes you wanted to split the string in half. Just a thought -injunjoel "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use." -Galileo	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Adding formatting to a string by melora (Scribe) on Jun 17, 2004 at 16:47 UTC
How about this? `my $string = "ABCDEFGH"; $string = sprintf("%.4s-%s", $string,substr($string,4,4));` [download] Awkward, maybe, but I have tried it and it works.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Adding formatting to a string by Anonymous Monk on Jun 16, 2004 at 11:18 UTC
You could do this: `$string = sprintf("%4s-%4s", $string);` [download] or this: `$string = join('-', (split($string))[0..4], (split($string))[0..4]);` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2:Adding formatting to a string by Roy Johnson (Monsignor) on Jun 16, 2004 at 14:53 UTC
Neither of these is a correct solution. The first will print the entire string followed by a dash, then four spaces. The second will try to split `$_` using `$string` as a regex. We're not really tightening our belts, it just feels that way because we're getting fatter.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Adding formatting to a string by Anonymous Monk on Jun 16, 2004 at 22:12 UTC
Oh, right. Oops. `my $string = "ABCDEFGH"; my @string = split //, $string; $final = (join "", @string[0..3])."-".(join "", @string[4..7]); print $final; # if my code is right, this is "ABCD-EFGH"` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: Adding formatting to a string by belden (Friar) on Jun 17, 2004 at 21:51 UTC