Re^2: Windows and backslashes and replacements oh my!

[stevieb]

Changing the line to the following has resolved the issue:

call perl -i.bak -ne "my $bs=chr(92); s/berrybrew(?!\\+test)/berrybrew
+${bs}${bs}test/; print" test/data/config.json

Thanks!

[LanX]

> (?!\\+test)

What about (?!${bs}+test) ?

[The Perlman]

${bs}${bs} means using two consecutive backslashes, which is still weird.

Looks like somewhere a Unix tool like bash or another Perl is processing the file.

(Update: Obviously Perl needs to escape the backslash inside a regex)

FWIW: using $b2=chr(92)x2 might save you some typing

[LanX]

One $bs is sufficient in my tests:

d:\>perl -E"for $x (qw/C:\berrybrew\test C:\berrybrew /) {$_=$x; $bs=c
+hr(92); s/berrybrew(?!\\+test)/berrybrew${bs}test/; say}"
C:\berrybrew\test
C:\berrybrew\test

d:\>

> Obviously Perl needs to escape the backslash inside a regex

not after interpolation of variables like $bs

[LanX]

> > Obviously Perl needs to escape the backslash inside a regex

> not after interpolation of variables like $bs

I have to correct myself, it depends on the side of the substitution

• the right side is a simple doublequoted string, so after interpolation no escaping
• but the left side is a regex with two levels of escaping
  1. string interpolation with escaping first, i.e. \$bs won't be interpolated
  2. regex interpretation with escaping first, i.e. /\*/ is not a quantifier but literal * same with /$bs*/
compare

d:\>perl -E"for $x (qw/C:\berrybrew\test C:\berrybrew /) {$_=$x; $bs=c
+hr(92); s#$bs$bs#<${bs}>#g; say}"
C:<\>berrybrew<\>test
C:<\>berrybrew

d:\>

or to eliminate the Win command line

use v5.12;
use warnings;
use Data::Dump;

my $bs=chr(92);

for my $x (qw/C:\berrybrew\test C:\berrybrew /) {
    $_=$x;
    s#$bs$bs#<${bs}>#g;
    say;
    #ddx $_;
}

$_='$bs';
s/\$bs/<$&>/;
say;

C:<\>berrybrew<\>test
C:<\>berrybrew
<$bs>

so this might be the OPs original problem

see also

s/RegEx/substitutions/: Variable interpolation and when to use /e - modifiers