the simple way to use RegExes is the best
Come to think about it, this is still correct today when lots of other languages offer regex but none with the ease (basically zero setup code!) of Perl's. And if they do, they are copying from the original anyway. Enclosing regexes in quotes (in other languages) is another frustration of mine because I get this primordial feeling that some unwanted interpolation happened or I missed some necessary escape. Whereas Perl's / / / is comfort of mind. Perl's enclosing regexes with "any" character is an added bonus.
Perl, when it came up, offered exactly what the masses (never realised they) wanted and how they (never realised they) wanted it. The masses realised that what they got was exactly what AND how they would have wanted if they had the far-sightness of Perl's founders.
