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Consider the following chunk of code:
--------------------------------------------------
open (IN, "<:raw", "test2.txt") or die "Can't open test.txt";

chomp($line = <IN>);

# Capture excerpt
$line =~ m/>([^<]+)/;

# Copy first line of excerpt
$pExcerpt = $1;

# Next line
chomp($line = <IN>);

# Untill we have reached the end of the section
until($line =~ m/<\/p>/i) {

# Capture useful text
$line =~ m/([^<]+)/;
chomp($line = <IN>);
}

# Capture the rest of the useful text
$line =~ m/([^<]+)/;

$pExcerpt = "$pExcerpt $1";

print "final: $pExcerpt\n";
-----------------------------------------------------------



The file test2.txt is as follows:
-------------------------------------------------
<p class=p1>I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I
make my
defense against all the accusations of the Jews. <i>Acts 26:2</i></p>


----------------------------------------------

When run:
P:\WEBPOP\EXPERI~1>excerpt.pl
defense against all the accusations of the Jews. you today as I make
my

P:\WEBPOP\EXPERI~1>


When I change the concatenation to as follows:
$pExcerpt = "$1 $pExcerpt";
The result is:
P:\WEBPOP\EXPERI~1>excerpt.pl
final: defense against all the accusations of the Jews. I consider
myself fortunate
to stand before you today as I make my

P:\WEBPOP\EXPERI~1>

Which is how I would expect it to work. Why does it not work the first
way(which is the way I need it)?


Perl reports itself as v5.8.3 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread,
binary build 809 provided by ActiveState Corp.


Thanks!

Daniel Bergquist

Daniel Bergquist <> wrote:
> Consider the following chunk of code:
> --------------------------------------------------
> open (IN, "<:raw", "test2.txt") or die "Can't open test.txt";
>
> chomp($line = <IN>);
>
> # Capture excerpt
> $line =~ m/>([^<]+)/;
>
> # Copy first line of excerpt
> $pExcerpt = $1;


You should never use the dollar-digit variables unless you have
first ensured that the match *succeeded*, since the variables
are only changed when the match succeeds.


$pExcerpt = $1 if $line =~ m/>([^<]+)/;


( I hope you are not trying to parse HTML or XML with regular expressions...)


> # Next line
> chomp($line = <IN>);
>
> # Untill we have reached the end of the section
> until($line =~ m/<\/p>/i) {


You should use a module that understands HTML for processing HTML data.


> # Capture useful text
> $line =~ m/([^<]+)/;


The above line of code is useless. You don't put the captured text anywhere.

What do you think that pattern match is doing for you?


> chomp($line = <IN>);
> }
>
> # Capture the rest of the useful text
> $line =~ m/([^<]+)/;
>
> $pExcerpt = "$pExcerpt $1";


$pExcerpt .= " $1";



> Why does it not work the first
> way(which is the way I need it)?


It won't matter if you process it properly (with an HTML module rather
than with regexes).


--
Tad McClellan SGML consulting
Perl programming
Fort Worth, Texas

> > # Capture useful text
> > $line =~ m/([^<]+)/;
>
>
> The above line of code is useless. You don't put the captured text anywhere.
>
> What do you think that pattern match is doing for you?

Heh, sorry, I had cut out a bunch of code and this is a work in
progress so some lines don't look useful at the moment.


> > chomp($line = <IN>);
> > }
> >
> > # Capture the rest of the useful text
> > $line =~ m/([^<]+)/;
> >
> > $pExcerpt = "$pExcerpt $1";
>
>
> $pExcerpt .= " $1";
>
>
>
> > Why does it not work the first
> > way(which is the way I need it)?
>
>
> It won't matter if you process it properly (with an HTML module rather
> than with regexes).

Opps, after a couple Google searches I know realize I have committed a
crime against the Perl community. Pardon me as I have been using Perl
only for a few months. Although I have found the modules HTML:arser
and HTML::TokeParser I am not entirely sure which to use and I would
like to read through a tutorial or two.


Thanks!

Daniel Bergquist

Nevermind, I think I'm figuring one of the parsers out.

Thanks!


Daniel Bergquist

Nevermind, I think I'm figuring one of the parsers out.

Thanks!


Daniel Bergquist