Replacing a pattern

[dlabdo]

Im trying to move around parts of a string a get rid of some of it too. Below is an example...

$str = "a b c d e f g VALUES(h i j k l m n) Bound Values: o|p|q|r|s|t|u|";

What i need to do is move the o|p|q|r|s|t|u| into the parenthsis after "VALUES" and then erase the stuff after it. I know how to erase the stuff (substr = "") but im having trouble moving the pattern. Is there a way i can assign a whole pattern's results to a variable?

ex: $str = "fjdsfds(fdjfksdjflds)fjdsklfjds";
$t = m/(*)/; ???? #basically get everything in between the parenthesis???

 

[KevinADC]

you can use the special variables $1, $2, $3, etc etc etc to store pattern matches in regexp's. Here is one possibility for the string you posted using a regexp:

my $str = "a b c d e f g VALUES(h i j k l m n) Bound Values: o|p|q|r|s|t|u|";
$str =~ s/^([a-z]+ VALUES)\(([a-z ]+)\)( Bound Values: )(.+)$/$1 ($2 $4)/;
print $str;

$1 holds the pattern match from the first set of parenthesis, $2 the next, $3 the next, and so on. You can nest parenthesis too for more complex pattern matching.


I'm sure this can also be done using index() and substr()