Question

Is it possible to perform a named-group match in Perl’s regex syntax as with Python’s? I always bind the $n values to proper names after matching, so I’d find it more convenient to do it in the regex itself if it’s possible.

Python does it like so:

>>> import re >>> regex = re.compile(r'(?P<count>\d+)') >>> match = regex.match('42') >>> print match.groupdict() {'count': '42'} 

I know the ?P indicates that it’s a Python-specific regex feature, but I’m hoping it’s in Perl in a different way or was added later on. Is there any way to get a result hash in a similar manner in Perl?

Answer 1

Perl uses (?<NAME>pattern) to specify names captures. You have to use the %+ hash to retrieve them.

$variable =~ /(?<count>\d+)/; print 'Count is $+{count}'; 

This is only supported on Perl 5.10 and higher though.