Perl Guru Forums: Perl Programming Help: Beginner: Find and replace

this 'is' a test of <a te(st)ing> of a 'type' The regular expression:

(?-imsx:\s+?$(.+?)$(\s+)?)

matches as follows:

NODE EXPLANATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(?-imsx: group, but do not capture (case-sensitive)
(with ^ and $ matching normally) (with . not
matching \n) (matching whitespace and #
normally):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
\s+? whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (1 or
more times (matching the least amount
possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
$ '('
----------------------------------------------------------------------
( group and capture to \1:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
.+? any character except \n (1 or more times
(matching the least amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
) end of \1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
$ ')'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
( group and capture to \2 (optional
(matching the most amount possible)):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
\s+ whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (1
or more times (matching the most amount
possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
)? end of \2 (NOTE: because you are using a
quantifier on this capture, only the LAST
repetition of the captured pattern will be
stored in \2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
) end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------

>>> Substitute desirable parenthesis with another bracket type char set, perform core quotification, then re-substitute <<<

1. Find unique brackets that are not wrapped in triangle brackets. I have tested for square brackets.
m/<(.*?)[\[\]](.*?)>/

2. Replace parenthesis brackets wrapped in triangle brackets with square brackets.
s/(<(?:.*?))$(.*?)$((?:.*?)>)/$1\[$2\]$3/g

3. Quotify leftover parenthesis brackets.
s/$(.*?)$/'$1'/g

4. Replace square brackets wrapped in triangle brackets with parenthesis brackets.
s/(<(?:.*?))\[(.*?)\]((?:.*?)>)/$1($2)$3/g

my $str = "this (is) a test of <a te(st)ing> of a (type)";

die "not unique enough\n" if ( $str =~ m/<(.*?)[\[\]](.*?)>/ );

$str =~ s/(<(?:.*?))$(.*?)$((?:.*?)>)/$1\[$2\]$3/g;
$str =~ s/$(.*?)$/'$1'/g;
$str =~ s/(<(?:.*?))\[(.*?)\]((?:.*?)>)/$1($2)$3/g;

print $str;

my $str = "this (is) a test of <a te(st)ing> of a (type)";
$str =~ s/(.)/quotify($1)/eg;
print $str;

sub quotify
{
my $c = shift;
$c = "'" unless (($c eq '<' .. $c eq '>') || $c !~ /[()]/);
return $c;
}


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