Perl thinking that $ isn't Text

tbad1986 · Apr 17, 2002

I'm having trouble with my news script. Right now when I put a $ it thinks that it should have a value and then prints nothing. So if I put something like "the x costs $4.56" it only prints "the x costs" and that would be it.

If someone knows how to print a $ without it thinking that it would be a "value"

If you need the script I can e-mail it to you.

alimumi · Apr 17, 2002

u might want to do this:

"the x costs \$4.35"

Stiddy · Apr 17, 2002

You need to escape the $ sign by adding a \ in front of it. This way the perl interpreter doesn't interpret the dollar sign as being a varible.

$var = "the x costs \$4.56";
print $var;

tbad1986 · Apr 17, 2002

The $ is an input though. I get it from a form and I can't tell them to put a \ in front of it because I know someone won't do it and will mess it up.

Is there a way I can automatically add it if there is a $ in a form box?

Stiddy · Apr 17, 2002

$input =~ s/\$/\\$/g;

try that on the string.

tbad1986 · Apr 17, 2002

Uhm, I'm sort of new at this.. where would I put that? Before it starts to print it (viewing the news) or when you click submit and it saves it?

Stiddy · Apr 17, 2002

Lets have a look at your current code and see if we can help!

NEVERSLEEP · Apr 17, 2002

.....
$input = $FORM{inputname}; # or your way to store in input
chomp $input;
$input =~ s/\$/\\$/g;
... someone knowledge ends where
someone else knowledge starts

tbad1986 · Apr 17, 2002

Alright, but it's big

(If you find something I could change to make it faster/cleaner please tell me, but try to stick to the problem I'm getting)

#!/usr/bin/perl

print "Content-type:text/html\n\n";
print "<HTML>\n";
print "<HEAD>\n";

require TripodCGI;
require TripodDate;

$CGI = new TripodCGI;
$DATE = new TripodDate;
$today = $DATE->currentDate();
$news = $CGI->param('news');
$pass = $CGI->param('pass');
$action = $CGI->param('action');

$graybg = '<style fprolloverstyle>A:hover {color: #FFFFFF}</style>'
.'<style></style>'
.'</head>'
.'<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#C0C0C0" link="#000000" vlink="#000000" alink="#000000">';
$whitebg = '<style fprolloverstyle>A:hover {color: #000000}</style>'
.'<style></style>'
.'</head>'
.'<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#666666" vlink="#666666" alink="#666666">';

my $webmaster = 'tbad1986@yahoo.com';
my $newsfile = 'file.txt';
my $SEPARATOR = "Ð";

my %TRUSTED = (
I have this setup, but don't want people to see it.

#This is option 1A, posting news.
if ($action eq "post&quot

{

if ( $pass eq "" || $news eq "" ) {
errors( "Sorry, but you left a field blank.",
"Please press back on <b>your browser</b> and fill it in!" );
}

elsif ( defined $TRUSTED{$pass} ) {

my $handle = $TRUSTED{$pass}->[0];
my $email = $TRUSTED{$pass}->[1];

open(OUTF, ">>$newsfile&quot

or errors("Can't open database! Please contact the website admin!&quot

;

print OUTF join($SEPARATOR, $handle, $email, $news, $today), "\n";
close (OUTF);

print <<End;
<title>news submitted</title>
$whitebg
<center><b>Your news has been submitted $handle</b><br><br><br>
<br><b>Date:</b> $today
<br><b>This was submitted:</b> $news
<br><br><br><a href="">Go Back to the Member's Page</a></center>
End
}

else {
errors( "Sorry, but you do not seem to have the right password.",
"If you're a member please contact MooMan to get a password&quot

;
}

}

#This is option 1B, viewing the news.
elsif ($action eq "news&quot

{

open(INF, $newsfile)
or errors("Sorry, but their was an error. Please contact the website admin!&quot

;
my @news = reverse( <INF> );
close INF;

print <<End;
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="

http://tbadgley.tripod.com/PBG/cgi.css">

<title>news</title>
End

foreach $line (@news) {

($handle,$email,$news,$today) = split(m/$SEPARATOR/, $line);

print <<End;
$graybg
<center>
<table border="1" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" width="100%" id="AutoNumber4" bgcolor="#666666">
<tr>
<td width="50%" bordercolor="#666666">
<font color="#000000"><small>posted by:</small> <a href="mailto:$email">$handle</a>
</font></td>
<td width="50%" bordercolor="#666666">
<p align="right">
<font size="2" color="#CCCCCC">$today</font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100%" colspan="2" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p align="center">$news</td>
</tr></center></table><br><br>
End

}
}

# Error Sub
sub errors {

my($error) = @_;

print <<Error;
<title>error</title>
$graybg
<center><h2>error</h2><br>$error<br></center></td>
Error
}

print <<End;
</table>
</body>
</html>
End

tsdragon · Apr 18, 2002

Shouldn't the replacement string be \\\$

Seems to me you need to escape the backslash and the dollar sign. Tracy Dryden
tracy@bydisn.com

http://www.bydisn.com

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard. [dragon]

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Perl thinking that $ isn't Text

tbad1986

Technical User

alimumi

Programmer

Stiddy

IS-IT--Management

tbad1986

Technical User

Stiddy

IS-IT--Management

tbad1986

Technical User

Stiddy

IS-IT--Management

NEVERSLEEP

Programmer

tbad1986

Technical User

tsdragon

Programmer

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