Using perl to split a line that may contain whitespace
- by Tommy Fisk
Okay, so I'm using perl to read in a file that contains some general configuration data. This data is organized into headers based on what they mean. An example follows:
[vars]
# This is how we define a variable!
$var = 10;
$str = "Hello thar!";
# This section contains flags which can be used to modify module behavior
# All modules read this file and if they understand any of the flags, use them
[flags]
Verbose = true; # Notice the errant whitespace!
[path]
WinPath = default; # Keyword which loads the standard PATH as defined by the operating system. Append with additonal values.
LinuxPath = default;
Goal: Using the first line as an example "$var = 10;", I'd like to use the split function in perl to create an array that contains the characters "$var" and "10" as elements. Using another line as an example:
Verbose = true;
# Should become [Verbose, true] aka no whitespace is present
This is needed because I will be outputting these values to a new file (which a different piece of C++ code will read) to instantiate dictionary objects. Just to give you a little taste of what it might look like (just making it up as I go along):
define new dictionary
name: [flags]
# Start defining keys => values
new key name: Verbose
new value val: 10
# End dictionary
Oh, and here is the code I currently have along with what it is doing (incorrectly):
sub makeref($)
{
my @line = (split (/=/)); # Produces ["Verbose", " true"];
}
