pattern matching with passed variable

[jassiq]

I am passing a reg expression from a subroutine which looks like:

$regex = "/(\S+) (\S+) (\S+) \[([^\]]*)\] (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) \"([^\"]*)\" \"([^\"]*)\"/";

I am then "matching" data against it with

$line =~ $regex;

The problem is that the matching does not work if the regex is passed in from the subroutine, but does work if I create the pattern explicitly in the routine:

$line =~ /(\S+) (\S+) ... etc. as above

Any ideas as to why?

Thanks

 

[justice41]

Print $regex and see if it looks like what you expect. (Hint: try using single quotes around the pattern when you define it, instead.)

jaa

 

[Tyger]

Hi,

I believe your problem lies the leading and trailing "/". This charcater is actually part of the match operation not part of the pattern to be matched.

If you remove the "/" from the beginning and end of your regular expression and place them either side in your "matching" line, it should work.

So:

$regex = "(\S+) (\S+) (\S+) \[([^\]]*)\] (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) \"([^\"]*)\" \"([^\"]*)\"";

and

$line =~/$regex/;

Eg:

$string="I am going to match the word monkey in this string";
$toMatch="monkey";

if ($string=~/$toMatch/){
print "MATCH SUCCESSFUL!!";
}else{
print"MATCH FAILED";
}

I hope this helps.

Tyger.