On Thu, 2005-05-12 at 15:41, Patrick R. Michaud wrote: > $rule = rx :w / plane ::: (\d+) | train ::: (\w+) | auto ::: (\S+) / ; > $rule = rx :w /[ plane :: (\d+) | train :: (\w+) | auto :: (\S+) ]/ ; > > On Thu, May 12, 2005 at 02:29:24PM -0400, Aaron Sherman wrote: > > On Thu, 2005-05-12 at 13:44, Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> > > False. In the first case the group is the whole rule. In the second > > > case the group would not include the (implied) '.*?' at the start of > > > the rule. This was a very unfortunate choice of explanations, since an implied ".*?" would change the semantics of the match deeply. However, your later explanation: > $r1 = rx /[abc :: def | ghi :: jkl | mn :: op]/; > > "abcdef" ~~ $r1 # matches "abcdef" > "xyzghijkl" ~~ $r1 # matches "ghijkl" > "xyzabcghijkl" ~~ $r1 # matches "ghijkl" > > Why does the last one match? Because it fails the group but > doesn't fail the rule -- i.e., the rule is still free to advance > its initial pointer to the next character and try again. ... is very understandable. Now I'm just left with a vague sense that I never want to see anyone use :: :-) -- Aaron Sherman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Senior Systems Engineer and Toolsmith "It's the sound of a satellite saying, 'get me down!'" -Shriekback
