perl regular expression question (ARGHH!)

amytys · 02-16-2005, 05:52 PM

Suppose I want to find list all files starting w/ABC.

I can do the following:

opendir (DIR, ".") || print "directory doesnt exist\n";
@files = grep(/^ABC/,readdir(DIR));
foreach $file (@files){
if (-f "$sInputDir/$file"){
print "$file\n";
}
}

However, if that ABC is held in a variable, say $filemask, I can't get this code to work. I've tried escaping the $ and all.

Attempts include:

@files = grep(/^\$filemask/,readdir(DIR));
@files = grep(/^\\\$filemask/,readdir(DIR));
ect...

Anyone know how to get this to work?

chrism01 · 02-16-2005, 06:35 PM

Maybe it's a grep thing, I tend to use

Code:

while( defined( $file = readdir(DIR)) )
{
    next unless $file =~ /^ABC/ ;
    blah
}

although I haven't tried pattern as a var

keefaz · 02-17-2005, 07:22 AM

You could pipe find command too, like :

Code:

$search = "ABC*";
$dir       = ".";
open FIND, "find $dir -name '$search' |";

while(<FIND>) { print; }
close FIND;

dannyp · 02-18-2005, 03:31 PM

put double qoutes around $filemask. I.E: "$filemask"

Linux_in_NH · 02-21-2005, 06:29 AM

Try making filemask = a regular expression variable, i.e.

$filemask=qr/^ABC/;

then

@files = grep($filemask,readdir(DIR));

bigearsbilly · 02-22-2005, 03:59 AM

How about?

Code:

for $file (<w/ABC*>) {

    print "$file\n";
}