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hi

i have an initial string such as
$initial = "qqqqqqqq";
a user needs to input another string
$string =<STDIN>;
If this user were to key in exactly 8 q's then it will match and do
something.
But i have a problem when the user key in 5 or 6 q's, it will still
match, which i do not want.
how can i overcome this problem..?
thanks

justme wrote:
> hi
>
> i have an initial string such as
> $initial = "qqqqqqqq";
> a user needs to input another string
> $string =<STDIN>;
> If this user were to key in exactly 8 q's then it will match and do
> something.
> But i have a problem when the user key in 5 or 6 q's, it will still
> match, which i do not want.
> how can i overcome this problem..?

How did you attempt to solve this in the first case?
the re /q{8}/ would match exactly 8 q's, not 5 nor 6 nor 7, exactly 8,
nor does it match 9, 10, 11 or any above that, exactly 8 which is the
holy number (thanks to Monty Python),

Josef
--
Josef Möllers (Pinguinpfleger bei FSC)
If failure had no penalty success would not be a prize
-- T. Pratchett

Josef Moellers wrote:

>
> How did you attempt to solve this in the first case?
> the re /q{8}/ would match exactly 8 q's, not 5 nor 6 nor 7, exactly 8,
> nor does it match 9, 10, 11 or any above that, exactly 8 which is the
> holy number (thanks to Monty Python),
>
> Josef

Actually /q{8}/ would match 9, 10, 11 q's.
/^q{8}$/ would work better.

Rasto

--

Rasto Levrinc
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rlocate/

Rasto Levrinc wrote:
> Josef Moellers wrote:
>
>>
>> How did you attempt to solve this in the first case?
>> the re /q{8}/ would match exactly 8 q's, not 5 nor 6 nor 7, exactly 8,
>> nor does it match 9, 10, 11 or any above that, exactly 8 which is the
>> holy number (thanks to Monty Python),
>>
>> Josef
>
>
> Actually /q{8}/ would match 9, 10, 11 q's.
> /^q{8}$/ would work better.

Hm ... nitpicking: q{8} matches 8 q's, leaving the remaining q's unmatched.
But ... you're absolutely right: the intended message that q{8} would
match _exactly_ 8 q's and fail on 9 or more is wrong.

Thanks,

Josef
--
Josef Möllers (Pinguinpfleger bei FSC)
If failure had no penalty success would not be a prize
-- T. Pratchett

justme <> wrote:

> i have an initial string such as
> $initial = "qqqqqqqq";
> a user needs to input another string
> $string =<STDIN>;
> If this user were to key in exactly 8 q's then it will match and do
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> something.


Perl has an operator for testing string equality, its name is "eq".


> But i have a problem when the user key in 5 or 6 q's, it will still
> match, which i do not want.


Then there must be something wrong with your code.


> how can i overcome this problem..?


By fixing your code.

We cannot help you fix your code because we cannot see your code...


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

"justme" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> hi
>
> i have an initial string such as
> $initial = "qqqqqqqq";
> a user needs to input another string
> $string =<STDIN>;
> If this user were to key in exactly 8 q's then it will match and do
> something.
> But i have a problem when the user key in 5 or 6 q's, it will still
> match, which i do not want.
> how can i overcome this problem..?

Don't use a regex (although you haven't showed us what you actually tried)

Assuming you did a

chomp $string;

then you can do

if ($initial eq $string) {
....
}