Hard or Easy? To find string, then grab criterion matched lines above and below?

[samiam]

Hello,

I know this is a trivial parse / grep job for any Perl rake worth his
salt, but does anyone have guidance on how this Perl newbie might pull
a string from one file and use this string to pull the lines in another
file out, and also pull the first line before (matching criteria) and
the first line after (matching criteria.)

I have described this in detail below.

At first I thought to use VBScript, but then I realized that Perl is
portable, doesn't necessarily have to be installed on the server, and
probably has MUCH better string processing power than VBScript. I also
considered grep, but still thought I could reuse the Perl solution in
more places.

Any input is GREATLY appreciated!

L,
S

------------

Summary: I need to find CSR numbers in FILE-A that map to registry key
entries in FILE-B, and report the pertinent surrounding info.

Detail:

I am looking to:

a.) find the lines in *.aud files with "Fail" in them
b.) Extract the Section number from the beginning of that same line.
I'll call this Section number a "CSR #"

Then use that CSR# to pull from a 2nd *.dsc file :

a.) Pull first line with CSR#
b.) Pull the first line above it with anything between two # signs,
which are section titles like this #Windows Messenger#
c.) Pull the SECOND registry key instance that is on any line below the
line with the CSR #
d.) Out put this data into a CSV file like this:

CSR#, Section Title, Registry Key

5.6.1.7.1, Windows Messenger Check, "HLM,
SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client,PreventRun,1,INTEGER"

Since there seem to be commas in the registry key entry, I suppose my
csv file would need to be delimited by another delimiter recognized by
Excel, which is where I ultimately want to display my data.

Below are two data samples like the data from which I will be culling.
The first sample is from a *.aud audit file.
The second is from the single DSC program file that either analyzes the
registry or can also write and change it.

Basically, I need to report the changes that our program will be making
to the registry. The audit files show the fail lines, which are lines
of a servers registry that needs to be brought into compliance.

server.aud file (audit file)
5.2.4~Local Printers Shared~NA~PASS~NA
5.8.1~FTP Server Installed~NA~PASS~NA
5.6.2~POSIX Subsystem Installed~PASS~PASS~
5.2.2~Posix Subsystem File Components - Posix.exe Not Found~NA~PASS~NA
5.2.2~Posix Subsystem File Components - Psxss.exe Not Found~NA~PASS~NA
5.2.2~Posix Subsystem File Components - Psxdll.dll Not Found~NA~PASS~NA
5.6.1.1~NetMeeting Disable Remote Desktop Sharing~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2~IE Security Zones are Local Only~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.2~Allow User to Change IE Sec Policy~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.3~IE Security Zones Map Editing~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.4~IE Proxy Settings Set Per User~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.5~IE Automatic Installs Disabled~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.6~IE Software Update Check~FAIL~FAIL~

-----------------------------

analyze.dsc (script for analyzing/writing to registry)

# Windows Messenger #
dialog set,text1,"5.6.1.7.1 Windows Messenger Check"
dialog set,text2,"5.6.1.7.1 Do Not Allow Windows Messenger to be Run"
%%before =
@REGREAD(HLM,SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client,PreventRun,)
REGISTRY
WRITE,HLM,SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client,PreventRun,1,INTEGER

 

[usenet]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

[snip multipost]

Please don't multipost. It's rude.

 

[Tad McClellan]

I know this is a trivial parse / grep job for any Perl rake worth his
salt, but does anyone have guidance on how this Perl newbie might pull
a string from one file and use this string to pull the lines in another
file out, and also pull the first line before (matching criteria) and
the first line after (matching criteria.)

If you show us the code you have so far, we will help you fix it.

At first I thought to use VBScript, but then I realized that Perl is
portable, doesn't necessarily have to be installed on the server, and

What "server"?

A server is not normally required to run Perl programs.

Is this a stealth CGI question?

If it is a CGI question, then you _do_ need to have perl installed
on the web server.

Summary: I need to find CSR numbers in FILE-A that map to registry key
entries in FILE-B, and report the pertinent surrounding info.

None of the failed CSR numbers in your example FILE-A map to any registry
key entries in FILE-B, so the program must make no output...

a.) find the lines in *.aud files with "Fail" in them
b.) Extract the Section number from the beginning of that same line.

Here's how to do that part:

-----------------------------------------------
#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

while ( <DATA>) {
my($csr, @fields) = split /~/;
next unless grep { $_ eq 'FAIL' } @fields;
print "$csr\n";

}

__DATA__
5.2.4~Local Printers Shared~NA~PASS~NA
5.8.1~FTP Server Installed~NA~PASS~NA
5.6.2~POSIX Subsystem Installed~PASS~PASS~
5.2.2~Posix Subsystem File Components - Posix.exe Not Found~NA~PASS~NA
5.2.2~Posix Subsystem File Components - Psxss.exe Not Found~NA~PASS~NA
5.2.2~Posix Subsystem File Components - Psxdll.dll Not Found~NA~PASS~NA
5.6.1.1~NetMeeting Disable Remote Desktop Sharing~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2~IE Security Zones are Local Only~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.2~Allow User to Change IE Sec Policy~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.3~IE Security Zones Map Editing~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.4~IE Proxy Settings Set Per User~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.5~IE Automatic Installs Disabled~FAIL~FAIL~
5.6.1.2.6~IE Software Update Check~FAIL~FAIL~
-----------------------------------------------

Then use that CSR# to pull from a 2nd *.dsc file :

I would have done that part too, but I could not be troubled
to come up with a meaningful data file (and neither could you,
it would appear).

 

[Steve Kostecke]

If you show us the code you have so far, we will help you fix it.




What "server"?

A server is not normally required to run Perl programs.

Is this a stealth CGI question?

His question was obviously pertaining to Perl being used for a file parsing
solution. The question itself had nothing to do with CGI and I think you
knew that.

If it is a CGI question, then you _do_ need to have perl installed
on the web server.

No, not necessarily. There are several way to "compile" a Perl script into a
standalone executable (perl2bin, perl2exe, etc. Also there's ActiveState's
PerlEXE, part of the Perl Dev Kit.) Regardless of the OS, if you can make it
into a standalone binary, it's only a matter of properly configuring the
server to run it, and no Perl installation is needed (and yes I've tested.)

None of the failed CSR numbers in your example FILE-A map to any registry
key entries in FILE-B, so the program must make no output...

Maybe just a bad example and not necessarily the only data that'll be
operated on?

 

[samiam]

Hi Tad,

Thanks for the reply.

Your code snippet is leaner and more elegant than the labyrinthine code
I imagined necessary.

Sorry about my second data file not reflecting a match to the 1st. Per
your rebuke I have amended my ways: Here are links to data file
examples with matching data points:

http://home.comcast.net/~tankomail/test.dsc
http://home.comcast.net/~tankomail/server1.aud

And below is a snippet of FILE-A data which matches FILE-B data.

For instance - the fail line 5.4.6.24 in FILE-B matches the # cached
logon credentials # section in FILE-A vis-a-vis the section containing
the same 5.4.6.24 CSR#.

FILE-A is no more than sections delimited by #Section Title# , the
Registry key that needs to be changed, and identified by CSR numbers.

The goal is to pull the registry entry from each failed CSR section
(Identified in FILE-B) and pull from FILE-A:
1.) #section title#
2.) CSR#
3.) %%before and %% after registry keys

and push this data into CSV format for viewing with Excel.

--------------------------
FILE-B Aud file:

5.7.1.2~Password Expires Requirement~FAIL~FAIL~
5.4.6.62~Force Unlock Logon~FAIL~FAIL~
5.4.6.24~Cached logon credentials~FAIL~FAIL~1010
5.4.6.27~Smart Card Behavior~FAIL~FAIL~11
5.4.6.20~Auto Admin Login Settings~PASS~PASS~00
5.4.6.9~Sharing of Devices - Floppys~PASS~PASS~11
5.4.6.9~Sharing of Devices - CDRoms~PASS~PASS~11
5.4.6.7~Sharing of Devices - DASD~PASS~PASS~00
5.4.6.16~IPSec Security for Kerberos RSVP Traffic~PASS~PASS~11
5.4.6.17~Hide Computer Name~FAIL~FAIL~
---------------------------

Find the fail lines, get the CSR at the beginning of the line and match
to registry change section in FILE-A
-------------------------
FILE-A dsc file:

# cached logon credentials #
dialog set,text1,"5.4.6.24 Cached logon credentials" **********
dialog set,text2,"5.4.6.24 Cached logon credentials"
%%before = @REGREAD(HLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon,CachedLogonsCount,)
REGISTRY WRITE,HLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon,CachedLogonsCount,2
%%after = @REGREAD(HLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon,CachedLogonsCount,)
%%stat = FAIL
%%stat2 = FAIL
if @equal(%%before,"2")
%%stat = PASS
end
if @equal(%%after,"2")
%%stat2 = PASS
end
list add,debug,"Cached logon credentials:Setting Before Run" %%before
"Setting After Run:" %%after
list add,log,"5.4.6.24~Cached logon
credentials~"%%stat"~"%%stat2"~"%%before%%after
list savefile,log,%%logfile
list savefile,debug,%%debugfile
wait 0.2

:checktwentyseven
%%check = @INIREAD(checks,checktwentyseven)
if @equal(%%check,off)
goto checktwentyeight
end
---------------------------

Thanks for your help Tad!

L,
Sam

 

[samiam]

Hi Tad,

Links to the complete data files and a detailed description of my
simple data mining are in my first and second post.

Here is my perl script solution so far - at the end of this post.

I am a crude programmer and so I can't attest for the elegance of this
code or if it's even close to efficient. This code is bits and pieces I
have put together looking at examples on the net. It mostly works.

I haven't been able to get it to put both the %%before and %%after
sections into the csv file.

I would also like to pull the descriptive title of the registry key
into the CSV file, ie. "Checking Netmeeting - Disable Remote Desktop
Sharing" It comes at the end of the lines containing the CSR# such as
5.6.1.1

That part is tricky, at least to this noob.

Can anyone tell me how to add both the %%before and %%after as well as
the key description to my csv file?

Thanks!

L,
Sam

-------sample data-----------

# NETMEETING REG SETTING #
dialog set,text1,"5.6.1.1 Checking Netmeeting - Disable Remote Desktop
Sharing"
dialog set,text2,"5.6.1.1 Checking Netmeeting - Disable Remote Desktop
Sharing"
%%before =
@REGREAD(HLM,SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Conferencing,NoRDS,)
REGISTRY
WRITE,HLM,SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Conferencing,NoRDS,1,INTEGER
%%after = @REGREAD(HLM,SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Conferencing,NoRDS,)
%%stat = FAIL
%%stat2 = FAIL
if @equal(%%before,"1")
%%stat = PASS
end
if @equal(%%after,"1")
%%stat2 = PASS
end
list add,debug,"5.6.1.1:Setting Before Run" %%before "Setting After
Run:" %%after
list add,log,"5.6.1.1~NetMeeting Disable Remote Desktop
Sharing~"%%stat"~"%%stat2"~"%%before%%after
list savefile,log,%%logfile
list savefile,debug,%%debugfile
wait 0.2

:checkseven
%%check = @INIREAD(checks,checkseven)
if @equal(%%check,off)
goto checkeight
end

--------end sample data------------

---------Script So Far-------------
#Create a couple of lookup hashes
open ANALYZE, 'analyze.dsc';
while(<ANALYZE>) {
$section = $1 if /^#\s+(.*)?\s+#/;
$rule_no = $1 if /^dialog set,text1,\"([.1234567890]*)/;
if( /^REGISTRY WRITE,(.*)/ ) {
$regkey{$rule_no} = $1;
$sect{$rule_no} = $section;
}
}
close ANALYZE;

#Scan the Audit file for failures
open AUDITFILE, 'server.aud';
open CSVFILE, '>logfile.csv';
print CSVFILE "CSR #,Section Title,Registry Key\n";
while(<AUDITFILE>) {
if(/^(.*?)~.*~FAIL~/) {
$csr = $1;
$section_title = $sect{$csr};
$registry_key = $regkey{$csr};
if( $section_title ne "" ) {
print CSVFILE "\"$csr\",\"$section_title\",\"$registry_key\"\n";
} else {
print "Fail code $csr not found in analyze.dsc\n";
}
}
}
close AUDITFILE;
close CSVFILE;

 

[Tad McClellan]

His question was obviously pertaining to Perl being used for a file parsing
solution. The question itself had nothing to do with CGI and I think you
knew that.

Yes, I did.

But it appeared that the OP did not. Now he does.

Maybe just a bad example and not necessarily the only data that'll be
operated on?

My point was exactly that it _was_ a bad example.

 

[samiam]

But in subsequent posts I've clearly rectified the non-matching data
yes?

And I knew that Perl did not need to be installed for my purposes -
that's the first thing I checked since these are important production
servers.

At the end of this post is the sum of my initial research on that
matter.

If my last 2 posts are reviewed...at this point...I am simply looking
to modify my script to

1.) add the %%before and %%after registry sections to my CSV
2.) Add the detailed registry description to a csv field as well. Ergo,
I want to pull the "Checking IE Security Zones" elements into the CSV
as seen from a data snippet below.

dialog set,text2,"5.6.1.2 Checking IE Security Zones"

Any input on this?

Thanks!

L,
Sam


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to run perl without installing it
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2003/11/18/activedir_ckbk.html

* Perl Does not Require installation

This suggests perl needs to be installed on any machine a perl script
needs to run on. Not so.

Easiest way around this is to install Activestate perl on ONE machine
with all your favorite 3rd party modules and copy the "c:\perl" folder
to a shared network location and call your scripts from a oneliner
batch file like so.

\\server\perl\bin\perl.exe \\server\scripts\myscript.pl

or wrap it in a batch file like this:

@echo off
\\server\perl\bin\perl.exe -x %0 %*

:: the above command tells the perl interpreter to
:: strip off text before #!perl line and treat everything
:: afterward like a perl script!

goto endofperl

#!perl

print "this rocks, this portable script will \n";
print "run on any machine in the network. \n";
print "No perl install required on target machine \n";

__END__
:endofperl

Also, their are many ways to compile scripts into exe's for users and
make mini-perl interpreters (like a 2 meg perl.exe interpreter) so you
can send open-source scripts to other admins to edit/plagiarize. No
need to install 50+ megs of perl on any machine + modules unless you
are developing.

 

[Tad McClellan]

But in subsequent posts I've clearly rectified the non-matching data
yes?

Yes.

But I only have time for 3-minute answers right now.

Maybe I can add something this evening or over the weekend.

 

[Brian McCauley]

Here is my perl script solution so far - at the end of this post.

A very good start.

I am a crude programmer and so I can't attest for the elegance of this
code or if it's even close to efficient. This code is bits and pieces I
have put together looking at examples on the net. It mostly works.

I've put "use strict" and "use warnings" at the top and used lexical
variables and put or die on all your open()s. This makes your code look
a lot less crude.

Oh, and I simplified a couple of the regex.

I haven't been able to get it to put both the %%before and %%after
sections into the csv file.

Right, you had two parallel hashes. If you added two more you've have
four. By my "rule of three" that means you'd be doing it wrong.

I have replaced your paralell hashes by a has containing records. The
record is actually implemented as a hash, but conceptually it's being
(ab)uses as a record structure not an associative array. This is normal
practice in Perl.

It also actually makes the code simpler because I can attach the record
into the container hash before it's complete.

I would also like to pull the descriptive title of the registry key
into the CSV file, ie. "Checking Netmeeting - Disable Remote Desktop
Sharing" It comes at the end of the lines containing the CSR# such as
5.6.1.1

That part is tricky, at least to this noob.

I don't get why that's tricky

You managed to pull out the CSR with a pattern. Extending the pattern
to get the description too is trivial.

#!perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my %sect;

{
#Create a couple of lookup hashes
my $record;

open my $analyze, '<', 'test.dsc' or die $!;
while(<$analyze>) {
$record = { section => $1 } if /^#\s+(.*)\s+#/;
$sect{$1} = $record if /^dialog set,text1,\"([.0-9]+)/;
$record->{regkey}= $1 if /^REGISTRY WRITE,(.*)/;
$record->{$1} = $2 if /^%%(after|before) = \@REGREAD\((.*)\)/;
}

close $analyze;
}

#Scan the Audit file for failures
open my $auditfile, '<', 'server1.aud' or die $!;
open my $csvfile, '>', 'logfile.csv' or die $!;

print $csvfile "CSR #,Decriprion,Section Title,Registry
Key,Before,After\n";
while(<$auditfile>) {
if( my ($csr,$desc) = /^(.*?)~([^~]*).*~FAIL~/) {
if ( my $record = $sect{$csr} ) {
print $csvfile join (',',map {"\"$_\""} $csr, $desc,
@$record{'section','regkey','before','after'}),"\n";
} else {
print "Fail code $csr not found in analyze.dsc\n";
}
}
}

close $auditfile;
close $csvfile;

__END__

 

[Steve K.]

Yes, I did.

But it appeared that the OP did not. Now he does.

What made you think he did not?? Simply because he said "server" some
how automagically translates into your min into "web server" ? Has it
even occurred to you he could of simply meant a remote server he has
been working on? For instance, you SSH or Remote-Desktop/VNC in and you
work; not exactly a new concept. This can be for any number of purposes,
and he never said one thing abut www, web, http, nor cgi.

Lets take a look at what he DID say:

Hello,

I know this is a trivial parse / grep job for any Perl rake worth his
salt,

Hmm, "trivial parse / grep job ", looks right up Perl's alley.

but does anyone have guidance on how this Perl newbie might pull
a string from one file and use this string to pull the lines in
another file out, and also pull the first line before (matching
criteria) and the first line after (matching criteria.)

Text parsing stuff, still very valid for Perl, don'cha think?

I have described this in detail below.

At first I thought to use VBScript,

VBScript has many applications outside of web scripting. He makes no
mention of web, http, or cgi so no reason to go there. (See "Scripting
Host" on Windows.)

but then I realized that Perl is
portable, doesn't necessarily have to be installed on the server, and
probably has MUCH better string processing power than VBScript.

In this context, he could of either meant a "remove server" or he could
of been referring to any old box. Still no mention of anything web
related.

I also considered grep, but still thought I could reuse the Perl
solution in more places.

So please tell me how anything he said can be seen as a CGI question,
and how it was even remotely fair to accuse him like you did of making a
"stealth CGI question" when everything he wrote was HOW to do some
"trivial parse / grep job" with Perl. Even with CGI questions it's often
been said it will go answered if the question is still _directed_ at the
Perl side of things, so I really see no point at all as trying to paint
him as trying to do something wrong with words like "stealth", as if
you're just simply witch hunting.

 

[samiam]

Hi Steve,

Very able defense. Thank you.

You are, of course, correct: There is no cgi or Web Server involved in
this equation. I didn't know "cgi was off limits" or taboo in this
group. Why is cgi a no-no?

My application of this perl parser is to report the output of security
related registry changes on voice recognition servers. They are stand
alone w2k boxes being brought into lock-down compliance.

Thanks to someone named Brigmar over on Tek-Tips, I have a very elegant
solution, far more terse than I imagined. In little over 20 lines of
code, he conditionally pulls data from FILE-A and uses this data to
conditionally pull from FILE-B and then posts it all in a CSV file. Do
you think his code is especially economical and clean?

http://home.comcast.net/~tankomail/Brigmar_Report_script.pl

The only thing I have failed at doing is pulling the:
%%before and %% after registry keys and putting these into additional
columns in the CSV file.

I figure with this model, there is a whole world of pasing tasks I
could do with this as my code base.

Do you have a line into how I could add the two additional column
values?

The simple project is summed at the bottom as well as links to the 2
data files, Brigmar's excellent script on which all is based and a few
pasted data samples from the 2 linked data files.

Thanks for your input!

L,
S
-----------------------------------------
DATA FILES AND INITIAL SCRIPT FROM BRIGMAR from Tek Tips.

http://home.comcast.net/~tankomail/test.dsc FILE-A data
http://home.comcast.net/~tankomail/server1.aud FILE-B data
http://home.comcast.net/~tankomail/Brigmar_Report_script.pl Brigmar
Script
http://home.comcast.net/~tankomail/logfile.csv - The CSV files the
script creates

Below is a snippet of FILE-A data which matches FILE-B data.

For instance - the fail line 5.4.6.24 in FILE-B matches the # cached
logon credentials # section in FILE-A vis-a-vis the section
containing the same 5.4.6.24 CSR#.

FILE-A is no more than sections delimited by #Section Title# , the
Registry key that needs to be changed, and identified by CSR numbers.

The goal is to pull the registry entry from each failed CSR section
(Identified in FILE-B) and pull from FILE-A:
1.) #section title#
2.) CSR#
3.) %%before and %% after registry keys

and push this data into CSV format for viewing with Excel.

--------------------------
FILE-B Aud file:

5.7.1.2~Password Expires Requirement~FAIL~FAIL~
5.4.6.62~Force Unlock Logon~FAIL~FAIL~
5.4.6.24~Cached logon credentials~FAIL~FAIL~1010
5.4.6.27~Smart Card Behavior~FAIL~FAIL~11
5.4.6.20~Auto Admin Login Settings~PASS~PASS~00
5.4.6.9~Sharing of Devices - Floppys~PASS~PASS~11
5.4.6.9~Sharing of Devices - CDRoms~PASS~PASS~11
5.4.6.7~Sharing of Devices - DASD~PASS~PASS~00
5.4.6.16~IPSec Security for Kerberos RSVP Traffic~PASS~PASS~11
5.4.6.17~Hide Computer Name~FAIL~FAIL~
---------------------------

Find the fail lines, get the CSR at the beginning of the line and match
to registry change section in FILE-A
-------------------------
FILE-A dsc file:

# cached logon credentials #
dialog set,text1,"5.4.6.24 Cached logon
credentials" **********Wish to add these descriptions to csv
dialog set,text2,"5.4.6.24 Cached logon credentials"
%%before = @REGREAD(HLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon,CachedLogonsCount,)
REGISTRY WRITE,HLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon,CachedLogonsCount,2
%%after = @REGREAD(HLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon,CachedLogonsCount,)
%%stat = FAIL
%%stat2 = FAIL
if @equal(%%before,"2")
%%stat = PASS
end
if @equal(%%after,"2")
%%stat2 = PASS
end
list add,debug,"Cached logon credentials:Setting Before Run" %%before
"Setting After Run:" %%after
list add,log,"5.4.6.24~Cached logon
credentials~"%%stat"~"%%stat2"~"%%before%%after
list savefile,log,%%logfile
list savefile,debug,%%debugfile
wait 0.2

:checktwentyseven
%%check = @INIREAD(checks,checktwentyseven)
if @equal(%%check,off)
goto checktwentyeight
end
---------------------------

 

[Sherm Pendley]

You are, of course, correct: There is no cgi or Web Server involved in
this equation. I didn't know "cgi was off limits" or taboo in this
group. Why is cgi a no-no?

If the answer to your question would be the same if you were writing in
some other language, then it's not a Perl question, and therefore off-
topic here.

A contrived example: "I print some HTML from my Perl CGI. The page renders
fine in FireFox, but not in IE." That's not a Perl question, it's an HTML
question; the answer is "fix the HTML". The fact that the HTML is the
output from a Perl script doesn't make it a Perl question.

Another contrived example: "I'm returning the correct MIME type from my
CGI script, but IE ignores that and parses it as HTML anyway." Once again,
that's not a Perl question, since IE would be doing precisely the same
thing if your CGI were written in Python, Ruby, or whatever.

It isn't just a question of netiquette and/or courtesy either. Understanding
a problem is a critical step in solving it. Quite often, in the process of
narrowing down the exact nature of a bug, in preparation of deciding which
group to ask questions in, I find that I've found the bug myself and don't
need to ask in any group at all.

sherm--

 

[samiam]

Ahhh...of course. Makes sense. Thanks!

Just to be clear, my question is in fact, strictly a Perl parsing
question

L,
S