Split on metachar

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

Hey monks,

Quick, maybe dumb question: I've got some text files with lines made up of values separated by a single char. I need to read the lines and split them. The separator char may change between files, so it's defined as a variable in the script.

The problem comes when the separator char is a Perl metacharacter. So, this

@line = split /$char/, $_;
[download]

works when $char is 'z', but not when $char is '*'.

Quick workaround, anyone?

Comment on Split on metachar Download Code

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Re: Split on metachar by saskaqueer (Friar) on Jan 06, 2005 at 01:19 UTC
You are wanting the \Q usage within a regex/double-quoted string, which is the same as quotemeta(): `# this @time = split( /\Q$char/, $_ ); # or this $char = quotemeta( '*' ); @time = split( /$char/, $_ );` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Split on metachar by EyeOpener (Scribe) on Jan 06, 2005 at 17:17 UTC
Thanks to all for the quick and helpful replies. Quotemeta! Who knew?! (Not me, obviously.)	[reply]
Re: Split on metachar by Eimi Metamorphoumai (Deacon) on Jan 06, 2005 at 01:20 UTC
`@line = split /\Q$char/;` [download] See also perldoc -f quotemeta.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Split on metachar by borisz (Canon) on Jan 06, 2005 at 01:21 UTC
use `quotemeta` or `"\Q"`. `my $char = quotemeta ''; # or "\Q*" instead of quotemeta @line = split /$char/, $_;` [download] Boris	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Split on metachar by gopalr (Priest) on Jan 06, 2005 at 09:17 UTC
Hi, you can solve this problem by two ways. 1.way ---Using \Q and \E `@line = split /\Q$char\E/, $_;` [download] 2. way --- Using 'quotemeta' `$a='abcdef2dfd'; $char=''; $char=quotemeta($char); @line=split/$char/, $a; print "@line";` [download] Thanks, Gopal.R	[reply] [d/l] [select]