bareword error

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

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Re: bareword error by FunkyMonk (Bishop) on Mar 13, 2008 at 23:21 UTC
The match operator expects its pattern to be surrounded by delimeters, usually `m//` (ie your pattern needs to be between the slashes). Another problem you've got, is that if the match is not bound to an expression, it will match against `$_`. You should use `=~` to bind the match to an expression. So, you need to change your if to something like `if ($FORM {'comments'} =~ m/http\|html\|HTML\|A HREF\|a href/i )` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: bareword error by ikegami (Patriarch) on Mar 13, 2008 at 23:34 UTC
and since the `i` modifier is being used, `if ($FORM {'comments'} =~ m/http\|html\|HTML\|A HREF\|a href/i )` can be written as `if ($FORM {'comments'} =~ m/http\|html\|a href/i )` Note to self: Put two spaces between `a` and `href` when using batmanor's form.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: bareword error by Bloodrage (Monk) on Mar 14, 2008 at 04:15 UTC
Even further refined: `if ($FORM {'comments'} =~ m/http\|html\|a\s+href/i )` [download] ..as any number of, but more than one, whitespace characters are valid between `a` and `href`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: bareword error by ikegami (Patriarch) on Mar 14, 2008 at 04:48 UTC
Re^2: bareword error by Anonymous Monk on Mar 14, 2008 at 18:38 UTC
Thanks FunkyMonk,ikegami and Bloodrage for your help. The script is working properly now. Batmanor	[reply]
Re: bareword error by johngg (Canon) on Mar 13, 2008 at 23:42 UTC
A couple of points: You are doing a match, not an assignment so use `=~` rather than `=`. Is the second slash in your `m//http\|html\|HTML\|A HREF\|a href/i` intended or a typo? It is why you are getting a bareword error because you are matching against an empty pattern (`m//` which actually means last successful match, thanks hipowls for pointing that out) and the 'http' that follows is the bareword. If intended, either escape it with a backslash (`m/\/http..../`) or change the delimiter used to something other than a forward slash (`m{/http....}`). I hope this is helpful. Cheers, JohnGG	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: bareword error by hipowls (Curate) on Mar 14, 2008 at 10:49 UTC
Good answer, one error though, `m//` is not an empty pattern, it is the last pattern to successfully match, split gets special dispensation so that `split m//, $stuff` does split on an empty pattern. From the split reference: As a special case for split, using the empty pattern // specifically matches only the null string, and is not be confused with the regular use of // to mean "the last successful pattern match". So, for split, the following: `print join(':', split(//, 'hi there'));` [download] produces the output 'h:i: :t:h:e:r:e'.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: bareword error by johngg (Canon) on Mar 14, 2008 at 11:16 UTC
Cripes, I'd never realised that, thanks for pointing it out. I had to write a little piece of code to prove it to myself. `$ perl -le ' > $s1 = q{catDOGfish}; > $s2 = q{xxYYYzz}; > print $1 if $s1 =~ m{([A-Z]+)}; > print $1 if $s1 =~ m{([0-9]+)}; > print $1 if $s2 =~ m{};' DOG YYY $` [download] Fancy not knowing that after all this time! Thanks again, JohnGG	[reply] [d/l]
Re: bareword error by grep (Monsignor) on Mar 13, 2008 at 23:40 UTC
= is for assignment =~ is a binding operator for regex's A match regex needs to delimited by set of 2 symbols not 3. `if ($FORM {'comments'} =~ m/http\|html\|HTML\|A HREF\|a href/i)` [download] Should fix it. UPDATE: added comment about delimiters grep `One dead unjugged rabbit fish later...`	[reply] [d/l]