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=head1 TITLE
counting matches
=head1 VERSION
Maintainer: Richard Proctor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 16 Aug 2000
Last Modified: 27 Aug 2000
Version: 2
Mailing List: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Number: 110
=head1 ABSTRACT
Provide a simple way of giving a count of matches of a pattern.
=head1 CHANGES
Version 2 of this RFC redirects discussion of this topic to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Have you ever wanted to count the number of matches of a patten? s///g
returns the number of matches it finds. m//g just returns 1 for matching.
Counts can be made using s//$&/g but this is wastefull, or by putting some
counting loop round a m//g. But this all seams rather messy.
m//gt would be defined to do the match, and return the count of matches, this
leaves all existing uses consistent and unaffected. /t is suggested for
"counT", as /c is already taken. Using /t without /g would be result in
only 0 or 1 being returned, which is nearly the existing syntax.
(Note I am only on the announce list at present as I am suffering
from negative free time).
=head1 IMPLENTATION
No idea
=head1 REFERENCES
I brought this up on p5p a couple of years ago, but it was lost in the noise...
