substr prints but does not assign to string

[Droppy]

Hello everyone,

This is in a subroutine.

my @block = @_;
my $string = join ("", @block);

First I do this to turn an array of strings into one single string. Then assign two variables to random values (for purpose of testing):

$preDB = "whydoyou";
$postDB = "hateme";

Then

if($string =~ m/Pre BD/i)
{
$indexPre = index($string, "Pre BD:");
$indexPost = index($string, "Post BD:");
$indexLV = index($string, "Lung Volumes:");
$preDB = substr($string, $indexPre, ($indexPost - $indexPre));
$postDB = substr($string, $indexPost, ($indexLV - $indexPost));

print "\nIn IF String: " . $string;
print "\nIn IF pre: " . $indexPre;
print "\nIn IF post: " . $indexPost;
print "\nIn IF LV: " . $indexLV;
print "\nIn IF PreDB: " . $preDB;
print "\nIn IF PostDB: " . $postDB;

In my output, string outputs fine and all the index have appropriate integer values given the string. However, both preDB and postDB continue to taunt me with their hatred. If I change the above assignment to preDB and postDB to print statements of the substr, the output is appropriate (ie. it shows the appropriate substring).

I am stumped as to why the output of substr will properly print but not assign to a string.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

My best wishes,

Droppy

 

[KevinADC]

It will really help if we can see the data you are working with.

------------------------------------------
- Kevin, perl coder unexceptional!

 

[Annihilannic]

Is it really supposed to be "BD" in some places, but "DB" in others?

Are you saying that this works:

$postDB = substr($string, $indexPost, ($indexLV - $indexPost));
print "\nIn IF PostDB: " . $postDB;

... but this doesn't:

print "\nIn IF PostDB: " . substr($string, $indexPost, ($indexLV - $indexPost));

Annihilannic.