FAQ 6.18 Why don't word-boundary searches with "\b" work for me?

P

PerlFAQ Server

This is an excerpt from the latest version perlfaq6.pod, which
comes with the standard Perl distribution. These postings aim to
reduce the number of repeated questions as well as allow the community
to review and update the answers. The latest version of the complete
perlfaq is at http://faq.perl.org .

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

6.18: Why don't word-boundary searches with "\b" work for me?

(contributed by brian d foy)

Ensure that you know what \b really does: it's the boundary between a
word character, \w, and something that isn't a word character. That
thing that isn't a word character might be \W, but it can also be the
start or end of the string.

It's not (not!) the boundary between whitespace and non-whitespace, and
it's not the stuff between words we use to create sentences.

In regex speak, a word boundary (\b) is a "zero width assertion",
meaning that it doesn't represent a character in the string, but a
condition at a certain position.

For the regular expression, /\bPerl\b/, there has to be a word boundary
before the "P" and after the "l". As long as something other than a word
character precedes the "P" and succeeds the "l", the pattern will match.
These strings match /\bPerl\b/.

"Perl" # no word char before P or after l
"Perl " # same as previous (space is not a word char)
"'Perl'" # the ' char is not a word char
"Perl's" # no word char before P, non-word char after "l"

These strings do not match /\bPerl\b/.

"Perl_" # _ is a word char!
"Perler" # no word char before P, but one after l

You don't have to use \b to match words though. You can look for
non-word characters surrounded by word characters. These strings match
the pattern /\b'\b/.

"don't" # the ' char is surrounded by "n" and "t"
"qep'a'" # the ' char is surrounded by "p" and "a"

These strings do not match /\b'\b/.

"foo'" # there is no word char after non-word '

You can also use the complement of \b, \B, to specify that there should
not be a word boundary.

In the pattern /\Bam\B/, there must be a word character before the "a"
and after the "m". These patterns match /\Bam\B/:

"llama" # "am" surrounded by word chars
"Samuel" # same

These strings do not match /\Bam\B/

"Sam" # no word boundary before "a", but one after "m"
"I am Sam" # "am" surrounded by non-word chars



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

The perlfaq-workers, a group of volunteers, maintain the perlfaq. They
are not necessarily experts in every domain where Perl might show up,
so please include as much information as possible and relevant in any
corrections. The perlfaq-workers also don't have access to every
operating system or platform, so please include relevant details for
corrections to examples that do not work on particular platforms.
Working code is greatly appreciated.

If you'd like to help maintain the perlfaq, see the details in
perlfaq.pod.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
473,744
Messages
2,569,483
Members
44,901
Latest member
Noble71S45

Latest Threads

Top