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From: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: Is this a Bug?
Keywords: perl bug
Message-ID: <9836@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: 5 Oct 90 18:10:42 GMT
References: <9134@cg-atla.UUCP>
Reply-To: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Distribution: na
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 20

In article <9134@cg-atla.UUCP> white@cg-atla.UUCP (Frank ) writes:
: 
: 	I am using 'perl' PL18. Running the following script
: causes "WORD WITH PARENS" to be printed. What's the difference?
: ----------------- cut here -------------------------------------------
: #!/usr/local/bin/perl
: 
: $_ = "This line contains a\nword beginning a line";
: if ( /^word/ ) {
: 	print "WORD NO PARENS\n";
: } elsif ( /^(word)/ ) {
: 	print "WORD WITH PARENS\n";	# I get this message !!
: }

This is documented behavior at patchlevel 18--the man page says you can't
expect ^ to behave consistently in mid-string if $* isn't set.

As of the next patch, ^ should never match in mid string unless $* is set.

Larry