Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi guys,

I'm trying to learn grep and map and having a little problem.

Let's say I have a file which contains:
Apple: abcdcabdadddbac

I want to replace any combinations of three of abcd, thus when I do this:

Code:

print grep {s/[abcd]{3}/X/g} <F>; # will do the subtitution fine, output XXXX

but what if I want to replace [abcd]{3} by a variable $string and enter it on the command line such this:

Code:

grep {s/$string/X/g} <F>;
and when I run: perl test.pl file "bda" # this will not subtitute any combinations of bda, but this exact order only

Can someone tell me what I did wrong here?

Thanks alot,

new bie,

Assuming your script is something like this

Code:

open(F, $ARGV[0]);
print  grep {s/$ARGV[1]/X/g} <F>;

and your command line is

Code:

perl test.pl file "bda"

then you got the expected output as there is exactly only one match for that search term i.e.

Code:

print  grep {s/bda/X/g} <F>;

if you want to match your first regular expression you need to enter

Code:

perl test.pl file "[abcd]{3}"