Thanks Ted. Jason Z.
On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 17:16:02 -0700 (PDT), Ted Kat. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- 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 > ---------------- > ------------------------ > -------------------------------- > >
