"Only perl can parse Perl"

• People are fond of saying this

• If you want to know what Perl will think of some program, you must ask perl itself

• No regex or other simple process will always produce the right answer

• This is because to parse Perl, you also have to be able to interpret Perl

• Bizarre but typical example:

        $t = time / 3;          # Is this a comment? /;

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Copyright © 2003 M. J. Dominus