Parse Line to capture desired string 1

[aaiqbal]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to this forum. I'm just starting to use Perl and I know how to read a line from a file and that it gets stored in "$_". I also know how to search for a string within $_. What I can't figure out is when that string is found, how do I get (or print) just that string from within the line? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[raklet]

Use the parentheses to capture the string you search for. Each set of parentheses in a regex is stored in a special variable. The special variables are $1, $2, $3, etc. You can then print the value of $1.

$_ =~ /some pattern (this will be captured) and more stuff/;
print $1; # will print "this will be captured";

or you can just assign the contents of the parentheses directly to a variable as follows:

my ($string) = $_ =~ /(your search pattern here)/;


if you have more than one set of parentheses, do this:

my ($first, $second, $third) = $_ =~ /(first)(second)(third)/;