Regex question : How to match \w and just the dash

hmbscully has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Regex question : How to match \w and just the dash by Eimi Metamorphoumai (Deacon) on Dec 17, 2004 at 21:07 UTC
I'd probably use `tr/-a-zA-Z0-9//cd;` [download] You could also do `s/[^-a-z0-9]//ig;` [download] If you wanted a regexp solution. However `s/[^-\w]//g;` [download] (which is what I think you think you're looking for) will not do what you want, because `\w` includes _.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Regex question : How to match \w and just the dash by Stevie-O (Friar) on Dec 17, 2004 at 21:08 UTC
The regex /^\W^-/ will never match anything, because ^ only matches the beginning of a string, and you have a character (\W) before the second ^. I think that what you want is this: `s/[^\w-]+//g` [download] That will strip out all characters that are neither \w nor a dash. --Stevie-O `$"=$,,$_=q>\|\p4<6 8p<M/_\|<('=> .q>.<4-KI<l\|2$<6%s!<qn#F<>;$, .=pack'N',"@{[unpack'C',$_] }"for split/</;$_=$,,y[A-Z a-z] {}cd;print lc` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Regex question : How to match \w and just the dash by ww (Archbishop) on Dec 17, 2004 at 21:14 UTC
Think I have a glimmering... but just barely... of what your input might be. Input, please, and if ([A-Za-z\-])+ is not the desired out, a sample of that too? In fact, a tight sample of the script would make it MUCH easier to try to help.	[reply]
Re^2: Regex question : How to match \w and just the dash by hmbscully (Scribe) on Dec 17, 2004 at 21:38 UTC
I'll give the offered solutions a go, they make sense. I did not realize that \W included the underscore. Nice to know. The input will be name and address fields on an order form.	[reply]
Re^3: Regex question : How to match \w and just the dash by Cody Pendant (Prior) on Dec 18, 2004 at 02:21 UTC
The input will be name and address fields on an order form. Then won't they contain spaces? ($_='kkvvttuubbooppuuiiffssqqffssmmiibbddllffss') =~y~b-v~a-z~s; print	[reply]
Re^3: Regex question : How to match \w and just the dash by dakkar (Hermit) on Dec 18, 2004 at 14:07 UTC
Just nit-picking, but keep in mind that `\w` and `\W` are not the same thing (note the case / capitalization). In fact, they are each other's complement: a character matched by `\w` will not be matched by `\W`, and vice versa. -- dakkar - Mobilis in mobile Most of my code is tested... Perl is strongly typed, it just has very few types (Dan)	[reply]
Re: Regex question : How to match \w and just the dash by bradcathey (Prior) on Dec 18, 2004 at 14:06 UTC
To clarify and to be totally A.R., I think you meant "hyphen." HTML provides for both kinds of dashes: 1. `–`, used for ranges of things (Monday–Friday); 2. `—`, used for breaks in thought ("Perlmonks—an online community—is a friendly place"), and, of course, the hyphen which is used for word breaks. All that to say: `s/[a-zA-Z\-]+//g;` would be my take, not seeing your input. —Brad "Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up." G. K. Chesterton	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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