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multiple repeating patterns

XeJingle
New User

Nov 28, 2007, 11:05 AM

Post #1 of 6 (3978 views)

multiple repeating patterns	Can't Post

Hi,

I am working a lot with regexp, but this is one problem, which could maybe be solved with a regexp oneliner but I am not able to get it ... maybe it is not even possible with one line.

Text looks like this:

Code

uierhuierg heguirghrthg rth grtguirtui 
uirt ui ghrtguhrtg rui rgrtgrt uigrrthgrtgrtug 
* something  
* something else 
* something else 2 
* ... 
er uihgiurthg rgtui trhg g uhrthg rtruuirtgrt 
g iuorthguirthuirtghrt uhrtgrtu

* (asterisk) describes a list. text can contain undefined number of these lines one after each other. I want to replace * to make it look like this:

Code

uierhuierg heguirghrthg rth grtguirtui 
uirt ui ghrtguhrtg rui rgrtgrt uigrrthgrtgrtug 
<ul> 
<li>something</li> 
<li>something else</li> 
<li>something else 2</li> 
<li>...</li> 
</ul> 
er uihgiurthg rgtui trhg g uhrthg rtruuirtgrt 
g iuorthguirthuirtghrt uhrtgrtu

it is no a problem to match the asterisks and text, but how do replace it effectively.

I played with some versions of the following:
$text =~s/(((\*\s*)(.*?)(\r?\n)*)+)/\<ul\>\<li\>$4\<\/li\>\<\/ul\>/g;

that would put every line beginning with * in <ul><li>something</li></ul>.

Is it somehow possible to do this with one line regexp? Or should I try to make longer but easier and match everything separately.

Anyone with an idea?

Thanks.

winfinit
User

Dec 5, 2007, 10:42 PM

Post #2 of 6 (3963 views)

Re: [XeJingle] multiple repeating patterns [In reply to]	Can't Post

well, if i understand correctly, then this should do it

#!/usr/bin/perl
$OriginalFile = 'ChangeThisToYourFileName';

$ProcessedFile= $OriginalFile .'.PROCESSED';
open (RAWFILE, "$OriginalFile");
open (NEWFILE, "> $ProcessedFile");

while (<RAWFILE>)
{
if(/^[\s]?\*/)
{
$_ =~ s|^[\s]?\*(.*)|<li>$1</li>|;
}
print NEWFILE;
}

michaelaz
New User

Dec 6, 2007, 2:24 AM

Post #3 of 6 (3961 views)

Re: [winfinit] multiple repeating patterns [In reply to]	Can't Post

i am not readinf from a file but getting the output from the buffer and the output include the char > which is the prompt sign

the qeustion is to set a regular experssion asking it to look for the char > as a prompt (first char in the line ??)

and not the char > that come in the middle of the line

winfinit
User

Dec 6, 2007, 7:56 AM

Post #4 of 6 (3960 views)

Re: [michaelaz] multiple repeating patterns [In reply to]	Can't Post

ok, then answer is above anyways, to match something at the beginning of a line you just have to use ^ in front of your regex so if you want to match > at the beginning of a line then your regex would be /^>/

XeJingle
New User

Dec 7, 2007, 9:49 AM

Post #5 of 6 (3943 views)

Re: [winfinit] multiple repeating patterns [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

No, that is not that. There is no "<ul>" & "</ul>" in your code.

RegExp should replace one or more lines beginning with "^\*\s+" with <ul><li>....</li></ul>.

Example :

* text 1
* text 2

onetowthree

* text 3
* text 4
* text 5

should be:
<ul>
<li>text 1</li>
<li>text 2</li>
</ul>

onetowthree

<ul>
<li>text 3</li>
<li>text 4</li>
<li>text 5</li>
</ul>

Thanks.

KevinR
Veteran

Dec 7, 2007, 12:35 PM

Post #6 of 6 (3940 views)

Re: [XeJingle] multiple repeating patterns [In reply to]	Can't Post

It could very well be possible to do what you want using one regexp, I am not going to attempt to write that solution. Here is one that should work:

Code

use strict; 
use warnings; 
 
my $file = 'path/to/file.txt'; 
 
{ 
   local @ARGV = ($file); 
   local $^I = '.bak'; 
   MAIN: while ( <> ) { 
      chomp; 
      if (s/^\*\s*//) { 
         print "<ul>\n<li>$_</li>\n"; 
         while ( <> ) { 
            chomp; 
            if (!/^\*/) { 
               print "</ul>\n$_\n"; 
               next MAIN; 
            } 
            else { 
               s/^\*\s*//; 
               print "<li>$_</li>\n"; 
            } 
         } 
      } 
      else { 
         print "$_\n"; 
      } 
   } 
} 
print 'finished';

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