I need a regExp to add spaces

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

I am writing out a textfile that has spaces throughout the file. What I need to do is put spaces in locations that may not have a value to put in. For example: $Reserve_1 requires 11 spaces in the field so my code looks like this..

sub checkData
{
   my $zero = 0;
   my $space = ' ';
   
    if($Coverage_limits.length lt 11)
    {
       $Coverage_limits = '           ';  

    }
    
    if($Reserve_1)
    {
           $Reserve_1 = '          ';  
    }
    
    if($Coverage_entry_date != "")
    {
       my $year = substr(@row[3], 2, 2);
       my $month = $zero.@row[4];
       my $day = $zero.@row[5];
       
       $Coverage_entry_date = $year.$month.$day;    
    }


}
[download]

This does not work. Thanks for your help in advance.

Comment on I need a regExp to add spaces Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: I need a regExp to add spaces by trammell (Priest) on Mar 17, 2005 at 21:46 UTC
`if($Coverage_entry_date != "")` [download] The `ne` operator determines string inequality in Perl: `if($Coverage_entry_date ne "")` [download] see perlop for details.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: I need a regExp to add spaces by beauregard (Monk) on Mar 17, 2005 at 23:38 UTC
Sounds like a job for sprintf. `$Coverage_limits = sprintf("%-11.11s", $Coverage_limits);` [download] c.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: I need a regExp to add spaces by Anonymous Monk on Mar 21, 2005 at 17:11 UTC
c, `$LimitValue = sprintf("%-1.1s", $LimitValue);` Is it possible in the above line of code to make the 1's into variables? eg. `$LimitValue = sprintf("%-$length.$lengths", $LimitValue);` Thanks in advance	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: I need a regExp to add spaces by beauregard (Monk) on Mar 21, 2005 at 17:23 UTC
Of course. The obvious way: `my $vlen = 1; $LimitValue = sprintf("%-${vlen}.${vlen}s", $LimitValue);` [download] The "real" sprintf to do variable field sizes is: `$LimitValue = sprintf("%-*s", $vlen, $LimitValue);` [download] You can also do: `$formatter = sprintf( "%%-%d.%ds", $vlen, $vlen ); $LimitValue = sprintf($formatter, $LimitValue);` [download] if you wanted to reuse the formatter elsewhere. c.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: I need a regExp to add spaces by naChoZ (Curate) on Mar 17, 2005 at 21:57 UTC
You could probably handle this during output with write. `format FOO = @<<<<<<<<<<< $Reserve_1 . ..in a nearby piece of code.. open(FOO, ">myfile"); select(FOO); write;` [download] You aren't limited to filehandles, you can even use STDOUT. -- "This alcoholism thing, I think it's just clever propaganda produced by people who want you to buy more bottled water." -- pedestrianwolf	[reply] [d/l]
Re: I need a regExp to add spaces by sh1tn (Priest) on Mar 17, 2005 at 21:53 UTC
`# or ... if($Coverage_limits.length !~ /^\s{11}$/o) ...` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: I need a regExp to add spaces by eieio (Pilgrim) on Mar 17, 2005 at 21:53 UTC
While I don't completely understand your question, I'll take a guess that perlform may help.	[reply]
Re: I need a regExp to add spaces by eXile (Priest) on Mar 18, 2005 at 14:53 UTC
I'm not too sure the construct `$Coverage_limits.length` does what you want it to do, it will concatenate `$Coverage_limits` with the length of `$_`. I suppose you mean `length($Coverage_limits)`?	[reply] [d/l] [select]