TIMTOWTDI

if ( $dog =~ /[^|]*\|[^|]*\|[^|]*\|([A-Z ]*)\.\s([A-Z]{2})\s(\d{6,8})\
+.\s(\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{2})/ ) {
    my $name = $1;
    my $id = $2 . $3;
    my $dob = $4;

[download]

Three repeats of "anything not a pipe followed by a pipe"; capture the name; period; space; capture the two leading letters in the ID; space; capture 6 to 8 digits (see explanation above of unix vs perl handling of the numeric quantifier range); period, space; capture dob.

I'm confused: at one point you state that the id may contain 6 to 8 (inclusive) digits but later write that you wish to allow 6-9 digits. Is that because sometimes a 9-digit id is "legal"?

Arguably ugly; also arguably "(painfully) clear."

Dealing with the permissable alternate characters in the name and with alternate (typo) hyphens in the id (hint: "quantifiers" and "alternation") left as an exercise for the OP.

In reply to Re: regexp identify variable number of digits within a sentence by ww
in thread regexp identify variable number of digits within a sentence by bdalzell

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.