> > very true. noted. I always forget about the greedy factor > Quick diction-alert; Greediness is something entirely different - your braino was mistaking "*" for "+"
An example of greedy vs. non-greedy matching: #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; my $phrase = 'Anna would like a banana'; my ($greedy) = $phrase =~ /(.*)na/; my ($nongreedy) = $phrase =~ /(.*?)na/; print "Greedy: $greedy \nNongreedy: $nongreedy \n"; produces the output Greedy: Anna would like a bana Nongreedy: An -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Lawrence Statton - [EMAIL PROTECTED] s/aba/c/g Computer software consists of only two components: ones and zeros, in roughly equal proportions. All that is required is to sort them into the correct order. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>