splitting a variable more than one way [Archive]

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zenweezil

02-07-2004, 03:24 AM

I currently use the following code to split a text file up so the first paragraph appears on the home page and then the user can click in to read the rest:

@display = split(/ /, $small_story);
$showtext = $display[0];

Unfortuantely the text file sometimes has instead of -- so how can I set the split up to use one or the other?

Or do I have to take the $showtext and split it again looking for a ?

Paul-Ecchi

02-10-2004, 07:55 PM

I am not sure if this will work, but try:
@display = split(/ | /, $small_story);

kidd

02-11-2004, 08:25 PM

Or you can just do this:

@display = split(/ \s* /, $small_story);

The \s* tells perl that it may or not be a space between.

Cheers

zenweezil

02-18-2004, 03:07 AM

Sometimes it's the simplest things that elude me.

dswimboy

02-20-2004, 02:20 AM

Originally posted by kidd

@display = split(/ \s* /, $small_story);

The \s* tells perl that it may or not be a space between.
[/B]
\s* actually tells perl to match any number (including zero) of white space characters surrounded by .

Paul-Ecchi's way may be better, just for the sake of perfection.
@display = split(/ | /, $small_story); @display = split(/ (| ) /, $small_story); would also work.

so many ways! if you want some more...look up the General Quantifiers and other Metacharacters