Question

My input file is as below :

HEADER 
{ABC|*|DEF {GHI 0 1 0} {{Points {}}}}

{ABC|*|DEF {GHI 0 2 0} {{Points {}}}}

{ABC|*|XYZ:abc:def {GHI 0 22 0} {{Points {{F1 1.1} {F2 1.2} {F3 1.3} {F4 1.4}}}}}

{ABC|*|XYZ:ghi:jkl {JKL 0 372 0} {{Points {}}}}

{ABC|*|XYZ:mno:pqr {GHI 0 34 0} {{Points {}}}}

{
    ABC|*|XYZ:abc:pqr {GHI 0 68 0}
        {{Points {{F1 11.11} {F2 12.10} {F3 14.11} {F4 16.23}}}}
        }
TRAILER

I want to extract the file into an array as below :

$array[0] = "{ABC|*|DEF {GHI 0 1 0} {{Points {}}}}"

$array[1] = "{ABC|*|DEF {GHI 0 2 0} {{Points {}}}}"

$array[2] = "{ABC|*|XYZ:abc:def {GHI 0 22 0} {{Points {{F1 1.1} {F2 1.2} {F3 1.3} {F4 1.4}}}}}"

..
..

$array[5] = "{
    ABC|*|XYZ:abc:pqr {GHI 0 68 0}
        {{Points {{F1 11.11} {F2 12.10} {F3 14.11} {F4 16.23}}}}
        }"

Which means, I need to match the first opening curly brace with its closing curly brace and extract the string in between.

I have checked the below link, but this doesnt apply to my question.
Regex to get string between curly braces "{I want what's between the curly braces}"

I am trying but would really help if someone can assist me with their expertise …

Thanks
Sri …

Answer 1

This can certainly be done with regex at least in modern versions of Perl:

my @array = $str =~ /( \{ (?: [^{}]* | (?0) )* \} )/xg;

print join "\n" => @array;

The regex matches a curly brace block that contains either non curly brace characters, or a recursion into itself (matches nested braces)

Edit: the above code works in Perl 5.10+, for earlier versions the recursion is a bit more verbose:

my $re; $re = qr/ \{ (?: [^{}]* | (??{$re}) )* \} /x;

my @array = $str =~ /$re/xg;