Question on regex substitution using variables...

[Ian]

Hi,

Hopefully a simple question but my brain is hurting...

I want to make a regex substitution, using search and replace
patterns contained in variables. What I want to do is:

$f = "fred.abc";
$f =~ s/(.*)\.abc/$1.def/;
print "$f\n";

but where the two parts of the substitution are variables:

my $to_pattern = "(.*)\\.abc ";
my $from_pattern = "\$1.def";
$f =~ s/$to_pattern/$from_pattern/;
print "$f\n";

Unfortunately this doesn't seem to work, where the first example
correctly prints out "fred.def" the second one doesn't seem to
do the back-substitution, and just prints "$1.def".

Is this possible, and if so, what quoting magic do I need to make
it work???

TIA,
Ian.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my $f;

$f = "fred.abc";
$f =~ s/(.*)\.abc/$1.def/;

print "$f\n"; # prints "fred.def" (correct)
$f = "joe.abc";

my $to_pattern = "(.*)\\.abc ";
my $from_pattern = "\$1.def";

$f =~ s/$to_pattern/$from_pattern/;

print "$f\n"; # prints "$1.def"

# end
--
Ian

"Tamahome!! !" - "Miaka!!!"

[Ben Bacarisse]

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 17:06:09 +0000, Ian wrote:

but where the two parts of the substitution are variables:

my $to_pattern = "(.*)\\.abc ";
my $from_pattern = "\$1.def";
$f =~ s/$to_pattern/$from_pattern/;
print "$f\n";

Unfortunately this doesn't seem to work, where the first example correctly
prints out "fred.def" the second one doesn't seem to do the
back-substitution, and just prints "$1.def".
That is because the second part of the s/// construct is an ordinary
double quoted string. Once you have put a literal $ into a string, it is
not re-interpreted whenever the string is substituted. (What would you
expect

my $a = "X"; my $b = "\$a"; print "$b"

to print?)
Is this possible, and if so, what quoting magic do I need to make it
work???

You need, in some sence, less quoting. One way is to re-write the
substitution as a little code block (in a string) and have it evaluated:

my $from_pattern = "\$1.'.def' ";
$f =~ s/$to_pattern/eval($from_patt ern)/e;

This being Perl, I await news of the 1867 other ways to do it... :-)

--
Ben.

[Ian]

On 2006-02-02, Ben Bacarisse <be********@bsb .me.uk> wrote:

[snip - understood]

You need, in some sence, less quoting. One way is to re-write the
substitution as a little code block (in a string) and have it evaluated:

my $from_pattern = "\$1.'.def' ";
$f =~ s/$to_pattern/eval($from_patt ern)/e;
Ta, this gives the effect I'm after. I was contemplating doing the whole
thing in an eval() but this is neater.
This being Perl, I await news of the 1867 other ways to do it... :-)

At least!

--
Ian

"Tamahome!! !" - "Miaka!!!"

[Jim Gibson]

In article <pa************ *************** *@bsb.me.uk>, Ben Bacarisse
<be********@bsb .me.uk> wrote:

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 17:06:09 +0000, Ian wrote:

but where the two parts of the substitution are variables:

my $to_pattern = "(.*)\\.abc ";
my $from_pattern = "\$1.def";
$f =~ s/$to_pattern/$from_pattern/;
print "$f\n";

Unfortunately this doesn't seem to work, where the first example correctly
prints out "fred.def" the second one doesn't seem to do the
back-substitution, and just prints "$1.def".

.... You need, in some sence, less quoting. One way is to re-write the
substitution as a little code block (in a string) and have it evaluated:

my $from_pattern = "\$1.'.def' ";
$f =~ s/$to_pattern/eval($from_patt ern)/e;
A second e modifier will force a second round of evaluation:

$f =~ s/$to_pattern/$from_pattern/ee;

This being Perl, I await news of the 1867 other ways to do it... :-)

(1866 to go :)

FYI: this newsgroup is defunct. Try comp.lang.perl. misc in the future.

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[Ben Bacarisse]

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 12:26:21 -0800, Jim Gibson wrote:

In article <pa************ *************** *@bsb.me.uk>, Ben Bacarisse
<be********@bsb .me.uk> wrote:

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 17:06:09 +0000, Ian wrote:

> but where the two parts of the substitution are variables:
>
> my $to_pattern = "(.*)\\.abc ";
> my $from_pattern = "\$1.def";
> $f =~ s/$to_pattern/$from_pattern/;
> print "$f\n";
>
> Unfortunately this doesn't seem to work, where the first example
> correctly prints out "fred.def" the second one doesn't seem to do the
> back-substitution, and just prints "$1.def". ...

You need, in some sence, less quoting. One way is to re-write the
substitution as a little code block (in a string) and have it evaluated:

my $from_pattern = "\$1.'.def' ";
$f =~ s/$to_pattern/eval($from_patt ern)/e;
A second e modifier will force a second round of evaluation:

$f =~ s/$to_pattern/$from_pattern/ee;

Lovely! I did not know that.
This being Perl, I await news of the 1867 other ways to do it... :-)

(1866 to go :)

No, that's the one as far as I'm concerned!
FYI: this newsgroup is defunct. Try comp.lang.perl. misc in the future.

Thanks for the heads up.

--
Ben.