comment on

I can't think of any way to do this with simple regexps, . . .

Then don't use a regex. Why does everyone think that all string manipulation should be handled with a regex?!? Use a simple character-by-character parser, noting state as you move through the string.

# UNTESTED !!!

my $in_quote = 0;
my $in_bold = 0;
my $final_string = '';
foreach my $char ( split //, $string ) {
    if ( $char eq "'" ) {
        $in_quote = 1 - $in_quote;
    }
    else if ( $char eq '*' && !$in_quote ) {
        $final_string .= '<';
        $final_string .= $in_bold ? '/' : '';
        $final_string .= 'b>';
        $in_bold = 1 - $in_bold;
    }
    else {
        $final_string .= $char;
    }
}
[download]

My wife's blog

In reply to Re: Interpolate Text Not Inside a Certain Tag by dragonchild
in thread Interpolate Text Not Inside a Certain Tag by Anonymous Monk

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		`&`
	<		`<`
	>		`>`
	[		`[`
	]		`]`

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.


go ahead... be a heretic
	PerlMonks