How do I match for a pattern in an array element delimited with a /

[Anonymous Monk]

Here is the data in one element of an array

D RTVX/TN 890-567-4567/CFDN/LCC 888/MSS *456LSL MSSSSSS/LEFV

I need to do the following:

Match everything between the "/"'s if it starts with /MSS, and delete out the space, unless there is a * after the space.

So my data would then look like this:

D RTVX/TN 890-567-4567/CFN/LCC 888/MSS *445LSLMSSSSSS/LEFV

Is this possible? If so, could someone show me how?

Edit by tye. Will be moved to Seekers of Perl Wisdom soon.

Originally posted as a Categorized Question.

[nothingmuch]

foreach (@array){ # iterate the array
    while(m#/MSS#g){ # find a /MSS
        substr($_,pos,do { m#/#g; pos }) =~ s/ (?!\*)//g;
            # find a closing /
            # substring the range currently in effect /MSS to /
            # replace all ' ' (replace with \s if applicable)
            # not followed by a * with nothing
    }
}

[Roy Johnson]

A little more straightforwardly:

foreach (@array) {
    s{/(MSS.*?)/}
     { my $m=$1; $m=~s/ +([^*])/$1/g; $m}ge;
}

Note that I'm using {} as delimiters for the main s///, and that what looks like an inner block of code is the replacement portion. The e option causes it to be eval'd.

Within the eval section, I operate on the matched string, and replace any spaces that are followed by something other than a * with whatever they are followed by.

Without the +, it would squeeze multiple spaces into one space, when followed by a *, and if not followed by a *, it would (of course) remove them all.

[Roy Johnson]

You need to include the slashes in the capture.

Here's yet another way:

for (@array) {
    while (m(/MSS)g) { s{\G([^/]*?) +(?![* ])}{$1}g }
}