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Clarity of intent.
Admittedly, in this case, it is not a very complex regexp, so it probably does not make much of a difference. If I am doing a full string comparison, I reach for eq. If I am matching a pattern, I reach for a regexp. It seems to me that any cue that you can give to the future-you reading your code is a good thing. Update: As far as what to do once it gets a number of comparisons, refactor the comparisons out into a subroutine with a descriptive name and call it. The following statement takes a bit to digest: ( $var eq 'a' || $var eq 'b' || $var eq 'c' || $var eq 'd' )where this replacement, at least to me, is much clearer: ( isAnAllowedCharacter( $var ) )This also allows you to change the definition of what a valid character (or whatever you are testing for) is without changing the code that is performing the test:
Update 2: Missed this one before: This simplified example shows only two elements to compare but if there were more the expression could get quite long. It seems to me that a regexp with many strings can be just as unreadable as a series of $var eq '...' comparisons. Whitespace (and /x on the regexp) can make a world of difference. --MidLifeXis In reply to Re^3: var comparison
by MidLifeXis
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