Re: Counting to add space to a string

You could also use look-behind and look-ahead assertions to find the point in the string where the initial letters end insert the required number of 'X's using a regex substitution using the 'e' modifier.

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ perl -E '
> @accts = qw{
>    CAL2345-06
>    CALI123456-09
>    FLOR1234567-01
>    MEGA9988776655-43
>    };
> say for
>    map {
>        s{ (?<=[a-zA-Z]) (?![a-zA-Z]) }{ q{X} x ( 14 - length ) }xe;
>        $_;
>    }
>    @accts;'
CALXXXX2345-06
CALIX123456-09
FLOR1234567-01
MEGA9988776655-43
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$
[download]

I hope this is helpful.

Cheers,

JohnGG

Comment on Re: Counting to add space to a string Download Code

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Re^2: Counting to add space to a string by aaron_baugher (Curate) on Sep 22, 2011 at 20:42 UTC
Or do a normal greedy match on the letters, and insert the X's after them in the same fashion: `s{ ^([a-zA-Z]+) }{ $1 . 'X' x ( 14 - length ) }xe;` [download]	[reply] [d/l]