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Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string

kennychen614
New User

Apr 19, 2011, 8:58 AM

Post #1 of 12 (18018 views)

Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string	Can't Post

I tried to use $1 in a variable, then use it in s///, but it fails to interpolated by perl. See my codes below

Code

my $v = q/There are 3 boys/; 
my $regx = q/\b(\d+)\b/; 
my $str = q/$1 of 10/; 
 
$v =~ s/$regx/$str/g; 
 
print $1,"\n"; 
print "$v";

The output is as below,
3
There are $1 of 10 boys

If I put the content of $str directly to s/// as below,
$v =~ s/$regx/$1 of 10/g;
then it's ok.

Could someone please help?

Zhris
Enthusiast

Apr 19, 2011, 12:49 PM

Post #2 of 12 (18013 views)

Re: [kennychen614] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi,

Code

my $str = q/$1 of 10/;

Using "q" will interprate the string literally as "$1 of 10", therefore in order for $1 to interpolate, you would need to use "qq".

However, since the regular expression hasn't been compiled yet, then $1 will interpolate as an empty string at this point, therefore it won't work as desired anyway.

Personally I would stick to using your working method, afterall theres not really any reason why you need to put the "search" string and "replace" string in their own variables.

Chris

(This post was edited by Zhris on Apr 19, 2011, 12:51 PM)

kennychen614
New User

Apr 20, 2011, 4:26 AM

Post #3 of 12 (17994 views)

Re: [Zhris] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks, Chris.

Previously, I wanted to make my program more flexible, i.e. allow user to input the search string and replacement string freely in command line. For example, "replace.pl <matching strings> <replacement strings>", but when I was trying to achieving this, I found that the matching variables $1,$2,... can not work as I expected.

So any alternative solution we can achieve this?

Zhris
Enthusiast

Apr 20, 2011, 6:55 AM

Post #4 of 12 (17987 views)

Re: [kennychen614] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

I'm not really sure how you would do it without using multiple expressions, or with user input, maybe there is a way using eval.

Here is my method which uses 2 expressions, but no user input:

Code

my $string = q/There are 3 boys/; 
 
my $search = q/\b(\d+)\b/;  
$string =~ m/$search/; 
my $replace = qq/$1 of 10/; 
$string =~ s/$search/$replace/g; 
 
print "$string";

I'm not sure if you will find this helpful. Others may have suggestions.

Chris

(This post was edited by Zhris on Apr 20, 2011, 7:16 AM)

miller
User

Apr 20, 2011, 9:03 AM

Post #5 of 12 (17976 views)

Re: [Zhris] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

There's no pretty way to do this type of thing, but this is one way:

Code

use strict; 
use warnings; 
 
my $v = q{There are 3 boys}; 
my $regx = q{\b(\d+)\b}; 
my $str = q{$1 of 10}; 
 
$v =~ s/$regx/qq{"$str"}/eeg; 
 
print "$v";

kennychen614
New User

Apr 21, 2011, 6:48 AM

Post #6 of 12 (17941 views)

Re: [miller] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks, Chris and Zhris!

If the user input parameter for replacement string is something like "$abc$1 of 10", i.e. user only want the $1 can be replaced with matching value, but keep $abc as raw string, then it will not be so easy.

Chris's solution has enlightened me to come up new thoughts to solve the problem. I can try to do a trick that replace $1 to an actual value in my program.

miller
User

Apr 21, 2011, 6:53 AM

Post #7 of 12 (17937 views)

Re: [kennychen614] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

Another way to do this:

Code

use strict;  
use warnings;  
  
my $v = q{There are 3 boys};  
my $regx = q{\b(\d+)\b};  
my $str = q{$1 of 10};  
 
my $sub = eval "sub { s/$regx/$str/g for (\@_) }"; 
 
$sub->($v); 
 
print "$v";

- Miller

BillKSmith
Veteran

Apr 21, 2011, 2:15 PM

Post #8 of 12 (17910 views)

Re: [kennychen614] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

Another possible solution! Those e's are never easy to get right.

Code

my $v    = q/There are 3 boys/; 
my $regx = q/\b(\d+)\b/; 
my $str  = q/"$1 of 10"/; 
$v =~ s/$regx/$str/ee; 
print $1, "\n"; 
print "$v";

Good Luck,
Bill

Zhris
Enthusiast

Apr 21, 2011, 4:18 PM

Post #9 of 12 (17893 views)

Re: [BillKSmith] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

So hang on, whats this "double e" doing? Evaluate, evaluate. Would someone care to explain?

Does it firstly evaluate variables inside $str i.e. $1, then $str itself?

My initial attempt was something like /$search/eval{$replace}/eg; with no success.

Chris

(This post was edited by Zhris on Apr 21, 2011, 4:21 PM)

BillKSmith
Veteran

Apr 21, 2011, 9:04 PM

Post #10 of 12 (17869 views)

Re: [Zhris] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

I got the hint that /ee is required from the book "Perl Cookbook". (Chapter on expanding variables in user input) The quoting required some experimenting. I really do not fully understand the explanation (Summarized below)

The first \e works much like the eval {BLOCK} which you attempted. It is compiled along with the rest of the program. Subsequent \e's are like an eval "string".

Can anyone provide a better explanation?
Good Luck,
Bill

miller
User

Apr 21, 2011, 10:57 PM

Post #11 of 12 (17863 views)

Re: [miller] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Code

use strict; 
use warnings; 
 
my $v = q{There are 3 boys}; 
my $regx = q{\b(\d+)\b}; 
my $str = q{$1 of 10}; 
 
$v =~ s/$regx/qq{"$str"}/eeg; 
 
print "$v";

Doing a double e modifier, basically just evals the right hand side twice. My original suggestion above becomes the following after the first eval

Code

$v =~ s/$regx/"$1 of 10"/eg;

Hence why I used multiple versions of the double quoted string.

I could also have done this for a bit more fun:

Code

$v =~ s/$regx/qq{qq{$str}}/eeg;

(This post was edited by miller on Apr 21, 2011, 10:58 PM)

Zhris
Enthusiast

Apr 22, 2011, 12:27 PM

Post #12 of 12 (17830 views)

Re: [BillKSmith] Issues :matching variable $1,$2,... in replacement string [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks Bill and Miller for explaining further. I have a copy of the cookbook, but I never ever think to look in it for a solution to any of my problems, afterall thats what its there for.

Chris

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