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regexp problem using custom markup

by kidd (Curate)
on Jul 25, 2002 at 20:30 UTC ( [id://185327]=perlquestion: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

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

I have this problem that has been driving me nuts, and I can't find the answer...

Lets say I have this code:

my $text = 'This test creates a [color=blue] blue [/color] word. And a + [color=red] red [/color] one';
As you can see its a string with special command [color=blue] wich I want to substitute for "<font color="blue">" and [/color] to "</font>"...

Now here is the code I've been trying out:

my ($color,@colors); my $new = $text; @colors = $new =~ m/\[color=.*\]/gi; print @colors;
Now...according to me "@colors" should print out:

[color=blue] [color=red]

Wich it isnt happening...could someone help me out... THANKS

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Regexp
by dws (Chancellor) on Jul 25, 2002 at 20:40 UTC
    Try @colors = $new =~ m/(\[color=.*?\])/gi; Adding the '?' makes the regex non-greedy. When it's greedy, it will merrily swallow everying until it reaches the last ']' in the target string.

Re: Regexp
by thelenm (Vicar) on Jul 25, 2002 at 20:42 UTC
    What you're probably seeing is the greedy behavior of dot-star. .* will match as much as it possibly can, so in your example, it should match "blue] blue [/color] word. And a [color=red] red [/color", not "blue". You could change your regular expression to one of the following options:
    # non-greedy dot-star @colors = $new =~ m/(\[color=.*?\])/gi; # say what you mean: match non-] characters @colors = $new =~ m/(\[color=[^\]]*\])/gi;

    -- Mike

    --
    just,my${.02}

Re: Regexp
by elusion (Curate) on Jul 25, 2002 at 20:42 UTC
    This code should work: @colors = $new =~ m/(\[color=.*?\])/gi;

    First off, @colors will receive values that are kept by parentheses, and you don't have any in your regex.

    And second, the .* in your regex will make it match "[color=blue] blue [/color] word. And a [color=red] red [/color]" all at once because regexes are greedy -- they match as much as possible. By adding the ? behind .* it matches as little as possible.

    elusion : http://matt.diephouse.com

Re: Regexp
by mkmcconn (Chaplain) on Jul 25, 2002 at 20:40 UTC
      If there are no parentheses, it returns a list of all the matched strings, as if there were parentheses around the whole pattern. -- perlop / Regexp Quote-Like Operators

      -Anomo

        Thank you Anomo - you are right. Without the /g operator it will return '1'; but, it will capture just fine using the operator: something that frankly I have never used or noticed.
        Thanks again.
        mkmcconn

Re: Regexp
by kidd (Curate) on Jul 25, 2002 at 20:45 UTC
    Thanks for your answers...I added the ? and it worked great...
OT: Deprecated Element
by BorgCopyeditor (Friar) on Jul 25, 2002 at 21:55 UTC

    Not what you were asking for, but maybe informative anyway: <font> has been deprecated. Inline styles (or classes) via CSS are preferred, in order to better separate content data (HTML markup) from presentation data (styling).

    BCE
    --Your punctuation skills are insufficient!

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