http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=65755


in reply to @arrys & Non exact searches.

Implementing Google or AltaVista in Perl for this kind of application is likely overkill, so here's a simple solution.
my (@names) = ( ... ); sub search { my (@search_keywords) = split (/\s+/, shift); my ($match_code) = "sub{".join('&&', map { "/\Q$_\E/" } @searc +h_keywords)."}"; my ($match_func) = eval $match_code; return grep { &$match_func() } (@names); } my (@results) = search ("the fried potato king");
This will return all records that match all terms. For a version that matches any, switch the '&&' in the join() to be '||' instead.

Essentially, this 'search' function generates a subroutine that tells grep() if the array entry matches or not. You can have a look at the value of $match_code to see what it is doing.

The \Q and \E are used to escape the metacharacters which would interfere with the // regexp. Saves you from having to tr/// them yourself.