Aaron Sherman wrote at Wed, 28 Aug 2002 00:34:15 +0200:
> $stuff = (defined($1)?$1:$2) if /^\s*(?:"(.*?)"|(\S+))/;
It gives me the idea of a missing feature:
What really should be expressed is:
my ($stuff) = /^\s*("�.*?"�|\S+)/;
where the � character would mean,
"Don't capture the previous element".
I think that such a meaning of "uncapturing" elements
from a regexp would be really nice,
as it would help to express things directly,
instead of going complicated ways.
The � character doesn't have any special meaning,
that's why I choosed it in the above example.
However, it also symbolizes a little capturing
and as it isn't filled,
it could really symbolize an uncapturing.
I don't know how hard it would be to implement or
whether it had already discussed yet.
Greetings,
Janek
