split issue

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

$file = '/root/db.dns.com';               # Name the file
open(INFO, $file);              # Open the file
@lines = <INFO>;                # Read it into an array
close(INFO);                    # Close the file
#print @lines;                  # Print the array

foreach $i (@lines)
{
@a  = split(/    /, $i);
print @a[0] . "\n";
}
[download]

I need some help with regex's . The file that is opening looks like this

asdfrbrn              IN A     206.23.12.5
a234rn              IN A     206.23.12.5
[download]

I need to get each item into a array. I don't know how many spaces there are between each word. I also need to make sure that the first item starts with a letter a-z A-Z. Can I do this with perl?

Comment on split issue Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: split issue by jfroebe (Parson) on Jan 02, 2005 at 01:25 UTC
The following split should work nicely for you: `@a = split( /\s+/, $i) if ($i =~ /^[a-z]/i);` [download] Jason L. Froebe Team Sybase member No one has seen what you have seen, and until that happens, we're all going to think that you're nuts. - Jack O'Neil, Stargate SG-1	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: split issue by holli (Abbot) on Jan 02, 2005 at 06:20 UTC
is "IN A" one or two items? if the first one is the case you´ll need to change /\s+/ to /\s\s+/ or /\s{2,}/.	[reply]
Re: split issue by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Jan 02, 2005 at 18:31 UTC
It looks like DNS::ZoneParse would be better suited for this than a simple split.	[reply]
Re: split issue by Zaxo (Archbishop) on Jan 02, 2005 at 07:30 UTC
Looks like a domain record file. You already have each line in an array with `@lines = <INFO>;` You can't just split on space, since the "IN A" bits are not constant for all records. To be really accurate about this you need to write a parser for zone files, maybe with Parse::RecDescent, or maybe relying on some local utility. As it is you may get by with, `/^\s(\w+)\s+IN A\s+(.)$/ and push @array, [$1,$2];` [download] After Compline, Zaxo	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: split issue by CountZero (Bishop) on Jan 02, 2005 at 09:24 UTC
As for your second question (make sure the entry starts with a-zA-Z): `foreach $i (@lines) { next unless $i=~/^[a-zA-Z]/; # your script here }` [download] CountZero "If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law	[reply] [d/l]
A reply falls below the community's threshold of quality. You may see it by logging in.