Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jpl-devvax!lwall
From: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: unpack and endianness
Message-ID: <9847@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: 7 Oct 90 03:09:54 GMT
References: <9821@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> <885@usage.csd.unsw.oz.au>
Reply-To: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 18

In article <885@usage.csd.unsw.oz.au> cameron@spectrum.cs.unsw.oz.au (Cameron Simpson) writes:
: From article <9821@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>, by lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall):
: | 	sub swab {
: | 	    $_[0] =~ s/([\0-\377])([\0-\377])/$2$1/g;
: | 	}
: [...]
: 
: Um, why can't I write
:  	sub swab {
:  	    $_[0] =~ s/(.)(.)/$2$1/g;
:  	}

Because . doesn't match \n.  [\0-\377] is the most efficient way to match
everything currently.  Maybe \e should match everything.

And \E would of course match nothing.   :-)

Larry