pattern match - find exact string in db line

[ibjdt]

i am reading a flat text file to an array and then looking at each line for a string. I want to perform an operation if i find the exact string

$string = abc;
if ($line =~ /$string/) { do soemthing }

however, this will find abcd and zabc.
i only want to allow

::abc::
::abc|
|abc|
|abc::

thanks in advance.

 

[xhonzi]

This page (

http://www.gossland.com/course/matching/expressions.html)

suggests you can use ^ and $ to indicate the start and stop of the string, but as far as I knew, ^ matches the start of the line, and $ matches the end of the line, and not just the words.

 

[travs69]

maybe
/\:{1,2}|\|{1,2}abc\:{1,2}|\|{1,2}/

??


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Travis - Those who say it cannot be done are usually interrupted by someone else doing it; Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions;

 

[travs69]

cleaner
/[\|\:]{1,2}abc[\|\:]{1,2}/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Travis - Those who say it cannot be done are usually interrupted by someone else doing it; Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions;

 

[travs69]

of course.. if you don't care if you match once or twice on those :s |s
then
/[|:]abc[|:]/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Travis - Those who say it cannot be done are usually interrupted by someone else doing it; Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions;

 

[stevexff]

/(::)|\|abc(::)|\|/

perhaps?

Steve

[small]"Every program can be reduced by one instruction, and every program has at least one bug. Therefore, any program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work." (Object:erlDesignPatterns)[/small]

 

[prex1]

Or...

/\babc\b/

This is of course more general: finds the exact full word whatever the separators.

Franco

http://www.xcalcs.com

: Online engineering calculations

http://www.megamag.it

: Magnetic brakes for fun rides

http://www.levitans.com

: Air bearing pads

 

[tsuji]

>$string = abc;
[tt]$string='(:|\|)abc:|\|))';[/tt]