--- Jason Zeisler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I am having a disagreement with some people over regular epressions
> and I would like
> to ask the experts and see what you all have to say.
>
> I have a file called test that looks like the following:
> $$$$$$aaaaaa
> bcdef$
> $
> abc
>
>
> If I use grep to search this file with the regular expression
> '^[^\$]*$' my output is just 'abc'.
> I will except the fact that I am wrong, but if I run this and I get
> the answer abc then I
> typed in something wrong or I am right. If someone could break this
> down and explain all
> details to this that would be cool. The part that is throwing us off
> is the []* part. I thought
> that it would accept anything that is not a '\' or '$' and repeat
> anything but those. The other
> party saying that the brackets represent just on character and will
> only repeat that one
> character.
Ok lets break it down :)
the first "^" means the beginning of the line ya.
next the last "$" means the end of the line.
So in a way your saying the entire line.
now for the tricky part
"[^\$]" is a class you defined as a single char
that is not a "\" or "$"
and "*" asterisk means the preceding will match zero or more times
I think whats tripping you up is that your trying to match the entire line.
So if the line contains a \ or $ no match else match.
You get different results by omitting the 1st ^ and last $.
RegEx's are fun! This help?
=====
Ted Katseres
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