Addendum:
The problem has been solved, but your code is not as efficient and robust as it could be.
One way to deal with robust input validation, would be to split the input on ][, then split individual records on |, and then use regexes to validate the individual fields. Which is along the lines of what other commenters have suggested.
However, it is actually possible to do it all with a single regex, and not only get super-strict input validation with useful error handling, but also maximize performance (especially for large inputs):
my $data = '[-3|1|29x250+46+26|200+300+544|Get]' .
'[-3|1|29x250+46+26|200+300+444|Get]' .
'[-3|1|29x250+34#$%#$INVALID4|Get]' .
'[-3|1|29x250+46+26|200+300+244|Get]' .
'[#$(GARBAGE';
while ($data =~ /\G \[ (?:
([^|]*) \|
([^|]*) \|
(\d+) x (\d+) \+ (\d+) \+ (\d+) \|
(\d+) \+ (\d+) \+ (\d+) \|
([^|]*)
| (.*?) ) \]/xgc) {
if (defined $1) {
say "Found record: $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10";
}
else {
say "WARNING: Skipping invalid record: $11";
}
}
if (pos $data != length $data) {
say "WARNING: Could not extract records from remaining input: ",
substr($data, pos $data);
}
pos($data) = undef;
Output:
Found record: -3, 1, 29, 250, 46, 26, 200, 300, 544, Get
Found record: -3, 1, 29, 250, 46, 26, 200, 300, 444, Get
WARNING: Skipping invalid record: -3|1|29x250+34#$%#$INVALID4|Get
Found record: -3, 1, 29, 250, 46, 26, 200, 300, 244, Get
WARNING: Could not extract records from remaining input: [#$(GARBAGE
If you're not clear on how it works, read the perlretut section on Global matching.
