How to use a variable as modifier in a substitution

Question

Is there a way to use a variable as modifier in a substitution?

my $search = 'looking';
my $replace = '"find: $1 ="';
my $modifier = 'ee';

s/$search/$replace/$modifier;

I need to use an array of hashes to make bulk search-replace with different modifiers.

Answer 1

Hm, if I had to do it I would do like this:

use warnings;
use strict;
my @stuff = (
{
    search => "this",
    replace => "that",
    modifier => "g",
},
{
    search => "ono",
    replace => "wendy",
    modifier => "i",
}
);
$_ = "this ono boo this\n";
for my $h (@stuff) {
    if ($h->{modifier} eq 'g') {
        s/$h->{search}/$h->{replace}/g;
    } elsif ($h->{modifier} eq 'i') {
        s/$h->{search}/$h->{replace}/i;
    }
    # etc.
}
print;

There are only so many different modifiers you might want to use so I think this is easy enough.

You can use eval for this, but it's awfully messy.

Answer 2

While the method using eval to compile a new substitution is probably the most straightforward, you can create a substitution that is more modular:

use warnings;
use strict;

sub subst {
    my ($search, $replace, $mod) = @_;

    if (my $eval = $mod =~ s/e//g) {
        $replace = qq{'$replace'};
        $replace = "eval($replace)" for 1 .. $eval;
    } else {
        $replace = qq{"$replace"};
    }
    sub {s/(?$mod)$search/$replace/ee}
}

my $sub = subst '(abc)', 'uc $1', 'ise';

local $_ = "my Abc string";

$sub->();

print "$_\n";  # prints "my ABC string"

This is only lightly tested, and it is left as an exercise for the reader to implement other flags like g

Answer 3

You could use eval, if you put on your safety goggles and your divide-by-zero suit.

E.g.:

use strict;
use warnings;
sub mk_re {
  my ($search, $replace, $modifier) = @_;
  $modifier ||= '';
  die "Bad modifier $modifier" unless $modifier =~ /^[msixge]*$/;
  my $sub = eval "sub { s/($search)/$replace/$modifier; }";
  die "Error making regex for [$search][$replace][$modifier]: $@" unless $sub;
  return $sub;
}

my $search = 'looking';
my $replace = '"find: $1 ="';
my $modifier = 'e';

# Sub can be stored in an array or hash
my $sub = mk_re($search, $replace, $modifier);

$_ = "abc-looking-def";
print "$_\n";
$sub->();
print "$_\n";

Answer 4

Of course s/$search/$replace/ work as you expect. It is the dynamic modifiers that are not straightforward.

For the regular match modifiers of pimsx you can use Perl's Extended Patterns to modify the modifier flags on the fly as part of your pattern. These are of the form (?pimsx-imsx) to turn on / off those modifiers.

For the s// e and ee forms, you can use (?{ perl code}) documented in the same perlre section. For all of eval e or ee forms, consider the security of the resulting code!

There is no form to modify global to first match that I am aware of, so global vs first match would need to be separate statements.

Answer 5

Here's a combination of Kinopiko's answer and eval.

eval is used here to generate the lookup table in a controlled and maintainable fashion, and a lookup table is used to save all the if.. elsif.. elsif which are not too fun to look at.

(very lightly tested)

my @stuff = (
{
    search => "this",
    replace => "that",
    modifier => "g",
},
{
    search => "ono",
    replace => "wendy",
    modifier => "i",
}
);
$_ = "this ono boo this\n";

my @modifiers = qw{m s i x g e};

my $s_lookup = {};

foreach my $modifier (@modifiers) { 
    $s_lookup->{$modifier} =  eval " sub { s/\$_[0]/\$_[1]/$modifier } ";
}

for my $h (@stuff) {
    $s_lookup->{$h->{modifier}}->($h->{search},$h->{replace});
}

print; 

To be fully useful this needs:

1. combinations of possible modifiers
2. sort function on the lookup table so 'msi' combination and 'mis' combination will go to the same key.