> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2001 4:09 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: $1, $2, $3 > > > HI, > > I have a question. > I want to extract all the information to the left of the last comma. > If there are 3 commas I would like everything to the left of > the third comma. > > $derer = "Seattle, Washington, USA, NAME"; ## I only need Seattle, > Washington, USA > > if($derer =~ /(.*?),([.*?,]*)(.*)/g) { ## I > figure Seattle is $1 > Washington is $2 and USA is $3
Square brackets create a character class, which matches ONE character. So, [.*?,] says to match one character consisting of dot, asterisk, question mark, or comma. The * after the brackets matches zero or more times. Since the character at this position is the space before the "W" in Washington, zero characters are matched and so $2 captures an empty string and $3 matches from there on. You said you want to "extract all the information to the left of the last comma. The way to do that is simply: /(.*),/ Using the "longest-leftmost" rule, the parens will capture everything to the left of the last comma. (Caveat: "." will not match a newline unless you use the /s modifier). If there is no comma, the regex will not match. Not sure what you're trying to do beyond that. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
