perl split string on a single char, not on repeated char

Question

I am using an existing perl script to process a text file output from a database query which I have no control over.

The data contains fields separated by '|', but some fields contain '||'. There are no empty fields. There may be spaces on either side of the field separator which I would also like to remove.

I cannot find a simple way to achieve this, apart from changing the '||' to something else, and putting it hack after the split, which seems a bit heavy going.

The file is substantial (typically up to about 100M).

Using split(/ *\| */, $line) works apart from the '||' character.

Any thought please?

ikegami · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-01 10:48:45Z

3

split /\s*(?<!\|)\|(?!\|)\s*/

answered Nov 1, 2012 at 10:48

ikegami

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user1791019 Over a year ago

Simple when some one shows me how. Works well, and is faster than my remove and replace (not surprisingly).

pavel · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-01 10:49:40Z

3

you can use negative look-behind and look-ahead to ensure there are no | symbols around the | you're splitting on:

split / \s* (?<!\|) \| (?!\|) \s* /x

answered Nov 1, 2012 at 10:49

pavel

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Comments

titanofold · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-01 10:50:53Z

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Look at using Text::CSV or Tie::Handle::CSV to run through the file. If the text file has been done properly fields that contain || will be quoted.

answered Nov 1, 2012 at 10:50

titanofold

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user1791019 Over a year ago

I think my problem started because there isn't input data protection on the user input. I guess next thing is some one using a single pipe, then I'll have to have a rethink! Thanks for your time

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