Re: Removing the first character from a variable

[Daddio]

AYAWTDI

$ID =~ s/.(.*)/$1/;

D a d d i o

[Abigail]

Eh, why the (.*) and the $1? No need to say "replace the first character and the rest by the rest". "replace the first character by nothing" is far more efficient. And we can do so in two ways:

    $ID =~ s/.//s;   # No s modifier needed if the first char won't be
+ a newline

or

    substr ($ID, 0, 1) = "";  # Or substr $ID, 0, 1, "";

Of course, there are sillier ways:

    $ID = reverse $ID;
    chop $ID;
    $ID = reverse $ID;

or

    $ID =~ /./s;
    $ID = $';

-- Abigail

[Elgon]

I was thinking to chop off the first character...

$id=~s/^(.)//;

and if you want to save it afterwards...

$chopped_character = $1;

NB: Regexps are not my strongest point, so post a reply if I am talking crap, preferably with an explanation of why!

"Violence is the first resort of those faced with yet another BSOD."
--/me