re bug?

dash2 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Didn't quite know where to put this.

[dash2@davehj plugins]$ perl
$foo='3$34Ł$';
$test = '3';
$foo =~ s/$test//g;
print $foo;

$4Ł$

[dash2@davehj plugins]$ perl
$foo='3$34Ł$';
$test = '$';
$foo =~ s/$test//g;
print $foo;

3$34Ł$
[download]

Is it a bug? Is it just in 5.6?

cheers

dave hj~

Comment on re bug? Download Code

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(tye)Re: re bug? by tye (Sage) on Apr 18, 2001 at 18:14 UTC
If you use a variable in a regex, it is interpretted as a regex unless you tell the regex that you want it to just be a string. This is a very common mistake. `s/\Q$test\E//g;` is how you tell the regex that. - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")	[reply] [d/l]
Re: re bug? by japhy (Canon) on Apr 18, 2001 at 18:12 UTC
The `$` character is a special regex character. You need to backslash it if you mean to match it specifically: `$re = '\$'; # or, better yet: $re = qr/\$/;` [download] `japhy` -- Perl and Regex Hacker	[reply] [d/l]
Re: re bug? by Albannach (Monsignor) on Apr 18, 2001 at 18:14 UTC
No bug, it's just that s/// interpolates, and '$' has a special meaning on the left side of s///. Try using `$test = '\$'` and see what happens. -- I'd like to be able to assign to an luser	[reply] [d/l]