> > How do I truncate a string to a particular number of characters? > >
> You can use the substr() function, or optimize your regex: > > #!/usr/bin/perl -w > use strict; > > my $string; > > # with substr > $string = "hello word"; > $string = substr($string,0,4); > print "substr: $string\n"; > > # with a regex > $string = "hello word"; > $string =~ s/^(.{4}).*/$1/; > print "regex: $string\n"; > __END__ > > > -- > briac > << dynamic .sig on strike, we apologize for the inconvenience >> substr 0 wallclock secs ( 0.31 usr + 0.00 sys = 0.31 CPU) regex 2 wallclock secs ( 1.99 usr + 0.00 sys = 1.99 CPU) Thanks, substr over 6 times faster, looks like I get to use it for the first time. Gary #!/usr/bin/perl -w use Benchmark; $t0 = new Benchmark; my $string; # with substr for (1 .. 100000) { $string = "hello word"; $string = substr($string,0,4); } $t1 = new Benchmark; $td = timediff($t1, $t0); print timestr($td) . "\n"; $t0 = new Benchmark; # with a regex for (1 .. 100000) { $string = "hello word"; $string =~ s/^(.{4}).*/$1/; } $t1 = new Benchmark; $td = timediff($t1, $t0); print timestr($td) . "\n"; __END__ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]