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Robrt (1414)
Friday November 04, 2005
12:40 AM
Off By One Error
I updated the Parrot smokeserver today, and suddenly the output display was horribly garbled. I started taking apart the regular expression, converting it into a //x with comments, and suddenly the answer was clear!
Someone added a field to the middle of the data set, and didn't increment all the following field id's. (I.e., $7, $8, $8, $9...).
Lesson #1: Be careful when inserting to the middle of a set. If you can safely insert at the end, do so.
Lesson #2: Don't use the numbered regexp capture syntax for large numbers of capture groups. Use ($foo, $bar, $baz) =
I didn't write the original code - I just had to fix it. (Luckily, I like fixing things.)
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Obligatory Doug Adams reference (Score:1)
> Use ($foo, $bar, $baz) = /(.)(.)(.)/ instead.
This is also known as the Eccentrica Gallumbits regex.
John
Re:Obligatory Doug Adams reference (Score:2)
Re:Obligatory Doug Adams reference (Score:2)
Re:Obligatory Doug Adams reference (Score:1)
Because (.) doesn't look like a mole - at least, not to me. :)
John