Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!ogicse!iwarp.intel.com!news
From: merlyn@iwarp.intel.com (Randal L. Schwartz)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: Perl code to test for valid reg-exp?
Message-ID: <1991May2.190148.22749@iwarp.intel.com>
Date: 2 May 91 19:01:48 GMT
References: <9105021740.AA06244@peanut.crl.dec.com>
Sender: news@iwarp.intel.com
Reply-To: merlyn@iwarp.intel.com (Randal L. Schwartz)
Organization: Stonehenge; netaccess via Intel, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
Lines: 15
In-Reply-To: jmiller@crl.dec.com

In article <9105021740.AA06244@peanut.crl.dec.com>, jmiller@crl writes:
| Has anyone got a short (preferably) piece of Perl code to test a
| string to see whether or not it is a valid regular expression for use
| in Perl?  I've written a program that allows users to type a string
| and then uses that to match against a data base; unfortunately the
| program blows up if the user types in an invalid string!

Do it inside an eval, and test $@ to see if it compiled properly.

eval 'Just_another_Perl_hacker,'; $_ = $@; s/.*"(.*)".*/$1/; s/_/ /g; print
-- 
/=Randal L. Schwartz, Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095 ==========\
| on contract to Intel's iWarp project, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, Sol III      |
| merlyn@iwarp.intel.com ...!any-MX-mailer-like-uunet!iwarp.intel.com!merlyn |
\=Cute Quote: "Intel: putting the 'backward' in 'backward compatible'..."====/