lucifer7748 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi ; I want to extract the string starts with ATT and ends with TAA from input , as a part of my program . I tried the /ATT.TAA/ meta character . but it didn't work . please help me

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Re: extract a specific string from input
by clueless newbie (Curate) on Sep 26, 2012 at 11:30 UTC

    .* will get you the longest sequence of characters.

    .*? will get you the shortest sequence.

[reply]
      .*? will get you the shortest sequence.

      Usually that's correct, but not if there is overlap between the stand and the end delimiter. ATTAA is the shortest sequence that begins wtih ATT and ends with TAA, but ATT.*?TAA doesn't match it.

      If overlapping matches need to be allowed, you can use for example 

      /((?=ATT).*?TAA)/

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Re: extract a specific string from input
by Anonymous Monk on Sep 26, 2012 at 10:43 UTC
    how many in between? . means one, try .*
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