http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=688503


in reply to Reg Exp

use the non-greedy .+? modifier + the optional group (?: ... )*

my $test = "Server list (Win2K/Win2003/XP) 6.26.5.1.5"; my $test1 = "Server list 6.26.5.1.5"; # $test =~ /(.*)(\(.+\))(.*)/; my $regexp = qr{ # note: greedy (.+) vs. non-greedy (.+?) +qf. (.+?) # capture what comes but look ahead => $1 \s* # optional whitespace (?: # start optional group (?: ... )? \( # opening bracket ([^)]+) # get what's in the bracket => $2 \) # closing bracket )? # - optional \s* # possibly followed by some whitespace ([\d.]+) # then look for numbers and dots => $3 $ # which is anchored at the string end }x; if( $test =~ /$regexp/ ) { # if( $test1 =~ /$regexp/ ) my ($prod_name, $platform, $version) = ($1, $2, $3); if(defined $platform) { print "$prod_name, $platform, $version" } else { print "$prod_name, <none>, $version" } }

Regards

mwa