> Would this be correct: /foo|bar/ Yes.
> Should they be grouped thusly: /(foo|bar)/ This works too, but has the side effect of setting $1 to the matched value, either "foo" or "bar". > What about /(?:foo|bar)/ ? This is ok too, but the parens aren't necessary. If you wanted to search for "foobar" or "foooof" you would need the parens. /foo(?:bar|oof)/ In this case you need the parens to group the alternation part of the expression. Rob -----Original Message----- From: Rich Fernandez [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2004 4:23 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: regex alternation question I'm unclear about how alternation works in a regex. Say I want to find either "foo" or "bar" within a string. I don't care which one I match, only that I make a match. Would this be correct: /foo|bar/ Should they be grouped thusly: /(foo|bar)/ What about /(?:foo|bar)/ ? Specifically, I know that the second one remembers which one is found and the third one doesn't. But is the first example wrong? TIA richf -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response> -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>
