Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!gatech!mcnc!uvaarpa!mmdf
From: telxon!ping!gorpong@uunet.uu.net
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Need help with (\d+) problem (s/...(\d+)/$1/ not working?)
Message-ID: <1990Nov4.224658.21882@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU>
Date: 4 Nov 90 22:46:58 GMT
Sender: mmdf@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU (Uvaarpa Mail System)
Reply-To: telxon!ping!gorpong@uunet.uu.net
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 34

Something is a little strange either with the way that I am interpreting the
manual page, or with Perl.  The mini-script:

	$string = "this is a test of stuff\t95";
	($a = $string) =~ s/\w+\s+(\d+)/$1/;
	print "1 == $1\nA == $a\n+ == $+\nbefore == $`\nafter == $'\n";

Prints out:

	1 == 95
	A == this is a test of 95
	+ == 95
	before == this is a test of 
	after == 

I think it should print out:

	1 == 95
	A == 95
	+ == 95
	before == this is a test of
	after ==

Why is 'a' not correctly being substituted?  Or is it doing exactly what it
should be doing, and I am the one confused?

		-- Gordon.

--
Gordon C. Galligher	9127 Potter Rd. #2E	Des. Plaines, Ill.    60016-4881
     telxon!ping%gorpong@uunet.uu.net (not tested)  (Is this even legal??)
     ...!uunet!telxon!ping!gorpong      (tested)    (And it works!)
"It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an
 exercise in the limiting of privacy." - Janov Pelorat -- _Foundation's Edge_