find and string types

[cormullion]

I've forgotten why these two find expressions should give different results:

Code Select Expand


(set 't "       ; this is a comment")
(find "(s*)(;+?)(.*)" t 0)
(find {(s*)(;+?)(.*)} t 0)

I ought to know...

[Lutz]

In the first one, which is delimited by quotes you would have to escape the backslash with another backslash, which is not necessary in the second one, which is delimited by curly braces. Curly braces suppress pre processing and take the characters literally.

Code Select Expand


> (find {(s*)(;+?)(.*)} t 0) ; only single backslash needed
0
> (find "(\s*)(;+?)(.*)" t 0) ;  double backslash necessary
0
>

 

Lutz

[cormullion]

Of course. I knew that.... Well, i should have remembered. Thanks Lutz!