Re^2: String Matching

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Re^3: String Matching by Jenda (Abbot) on Aug 15, 2012 at 07:51 UTC
They are greedy, but not too clever `my $str = "xaxaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"; $str =~ /(a+)/; print "$1\n"; # prints "a" not "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"` [download] The quantifiers are greedy, but they refuse to let go of something they found unless forced even if they could get more someplace later. Jenda Enoch was right! Enjoy the last years of Rome.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: String Matching by AnomalousMonk (Archbishop) on Aug 15, 2012 at 16:33 UTC
I'll see you and raise you. `/(a)/` (note quantifier in place of +) matches, but captures nothing, not even a single 'a'. `>perl -wMstrict -le "my $s = 'xaxaaaaa'; print qq{matched, captured '$1'} if $s =~ /(a*)/; " matched, captured ''` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: String Matching by Anonymous Monk on Aug 15, 2012 at 07:54 UTC
Um, they start from the left, stop when they find a match -- that is clever	[reply]
Re^5: String Matching by frozenwithjoy (Priest) on Aug 15, 2012 at 15:31 UTC
And predictable! I'd hate to regex in a world that wasn't predictable.	[reply]