Re: How do I delete the first n characters on a line

You could also use a regex although this is not as fast as substr.

my $n = 3;

my $str = "1234567890\n";
$str =~ s/^.{$n}//s;
# was: $str =~ s/^.{$n}(.*)$/$1/s;
print $str;
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The difference with the regex solution is that if $n > length $str no change will be made. With substr you will get a null string left in $str if you try to delete more chars than exist in $str. You need the /s modifier to make the . match a newline which is a valid char.

cheers

tachyon

To get the same behavior as a substr solution use: $str =~ s/^.{1,$n}//s;

Edit by tye to incorporate I0's reply

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Re: Answer: How do I delete the first n characters on a line by I0 (Priest) on Jul 20, 2001 at 03:37 UTC
#a simpler regex is `$str =~ s/^.{$n}//s` #or, if you want a null string left in $str if you try to delete more chars than exist in $str, `$str =~ s/^.{1,$n}//s`	[reply] [d/l] [select]