my $str = 'foo,bar,moo,cow';
my @value = $str =~ m/(\w+)\,?/g;
print "@value\n";

@value = split(',',$str);
print "@value\n"
[download]

You say have non-repeatable fields, how does using a regex make this easier than split? What do you think split uses to split? A regex! Besides, oro has a family of split functions. You could always do a series of splits if multiple delimiters are used:

my $str  = 'a,b,c:d,e,f:g,h,i';
my @part = split(':',$str);

foreach my $part (@part) {
   my @subpart = split(',',$part);
   print "@subpart\n";
}
[download]

print $_,$/ for map split(',',$_), split(':', $str);
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jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

I am not clearly explaining this issue.. Your examples are not exactly detailing my criteria because I am not fully explaining my problem, I apologize.

I have a string of characters that use the same delimiter. Some of the fields are mandatory, some are optional, and some may be repeated infinitely. I want to extract those values AND validate the fields all at once within a single regular expression. I want these values to be available to me afterward. A simple example..

use Data::Dumper;

my $foo = "one,123,a s d f,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h";
my @bar = $foo =~ /^([a-z]{3}),([0-9]{3}),([a-z\s]{1,7}),(?:([a-z]),|(
+[a-z]$)){1,}/;

print Dumper(\@bar);
[download]

Consider everything after the 3rd element to repeat, possibly to infinity, but we need to make sure they are single characters, otherwise I want the entire regex to fail immediately.

Again, thank you for your time, you have spent more than enough time working with me, and I very much so appreciate it..

Whoa, whoa, whoa there. Why do you have the (arbitrary) requirement that everything has to be done in the regex? IMHO, long regexen are what lead to the stereotype of perl looking like line-noise. I would suggest using split, and then validating the elements that you need to validate in separate statements. If you'd like, you can gather up your validation and pack it in to a subroutine. Just try to think of the poor bastard who has to come behind you and maintain the code.

Also, minor nit, "infinite" ne "arbitrary". If there were an infinite number of fields, not only would you have run out of disk space by now, but you couldn't do anything with it, since you couldn't hold it in memory. ;) Arbitrary means "as much as you want", whereas infinite means "without end".

thor

Do you still think that you have to perform this task with one regular expression? (and a horribly, unreadable, broken one at that.) split is perfectly cabable of stopping after it finds the, say, 3rd element. Then you can do something different with the rest:

use Data::Dumper;

my $foo   = 'one,123,a s d f,a,b,c,bad,e,f,g,h';
my @first = split(',',$foo,4);
my @rest  = split(',',pop @first);

print Dumper \@first, \@rest;

for (0..$#rest) {
   die "index $_ is bad: '$rest[$_]'" if length($rest[$_]) != 1;
}
[download]

Think in chunks. Don't try to swallow the whole pill at once.

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)