Re: [SLUG] Perl Question

[Rick Welykochy <rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Abbott wrote:

> if ( $_ =~ m/^Box(\d) ([A-Z]+(\. | ?)[A-Z]* ?[A-Z]*).*?(\d).*?(\d\d\.\d
> \d).*?(\d*\.\d\d)L/) {
> 		$box = $1;
> 		$name = $2;
> 		$place = $4;
> 		$time = $5;
> 		$margin = $6;
> 		$name =~ s/\.//;
> 			}

correcto


> However if the $name substitution is inserted above $place like so it
> fails to allocate values to $place, $time and $margin.
>
>
> if ( $_ =~ m/^Box(\d) ([A-Z]+(\. | ?)[A-Z]* ?[A-Z]*).*?(\d).*?(\d\d\.\d
> \d).*?(\d*\.\d\d)L/) {
> 		$box = $1;
> 		$name = $2;
> 		$name =~ s/\.//;
> 		$place = $4;
> 		$time = $5;
> 		$margin = $6;
> 			}

incorrecto and hard to maintain

You've also introduced a very subtle bug that I could not, at first
glance, see. The $name substitution resets $1 ... $6.

Please write maintainable code that is easy to understand.

I wouldn't want to be given the second code example buried amongst
1000+ lines of perl and then asked to fix "the obscure bug".


cheers
rickw

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