Question

Is there a way to do this without getting an infinite loop?

while((my $var) = $string =~ /regexline(.+?)end/g) {
    print $var;
}

This results in an infinite loop, probably because the assigning of a var directly from a regex inside the while returns “true” every time?

I know I can do this:

while($string =~ /regexline(.+?)end/g) {
     my $var = $1;      
     print $var;
}

But I was hoping I could save a line. Is there a regex modifier I can use or something like that?

(Also, what is this notation/trick actually called, if I want to search for it:

(my $var) = $string =~ /regex/;

Thanks!!

Answer 1

Is there a way to do this without getting an infinite loop?

Yes. Use a foreach() instead of a while() loop:

foreach my $var ($string =~ /regexline(.+?)end/g) {

what is this notation/trick actually called, if I want to search for it

It is called a match in list context. It is described in “perldoc perlop”:

The g modifier specifies global pattern matching–that is, matching as many times as possible within the string. How it behaves depends on the context. In list context …