RE: [p5p] pod bugs

[Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafayette.edu>]

On Tue, 25 Jan 2000, Moore, Paul wrote:

> I think this is the crux of things. Specifically, from perldoc perlvar
> 
>     $/      The input record separator, newline by default. This is used
>             to influence Perl's idea of what a "line" is. Works like
>             awk's RS variable, including treating empty lines as
>             delimiters if set to the null string. (Note: An empty
>             line cannot contain any spaces or tabs.)
> 
> That note is the key. Maybe the simple answer is "just" to change the effect
> of $/='' to split on empty lines, where empty matches /^\s*$/ rather than
> just /^$/.

Actually, I think the following paragraph is really the key: (further in
perlvar.pod):

    Remember: the value of $/ is a string, not a regexp.  AWK has to be
    better for something :-)

I actually thought the standard library already contained a module for
"forgiving" paragraph reading, but can't find it now offhand.  In lieu
of regexes for $/, such a module would probably be a nice thing to have.

    Andy Dougherty		doughera@lafayette.edu
    Dept. of Physics
    Lafayette College, Easton PA 18042

---

Follow-Ups from:

Larry Wall <larry@wall.org>

References to:

"Moore, Paul" <Paul.Moore@uk.origin-it.com>

---

[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index][Thread Index][Top&Search][Original]

---