I am trying to use regular expressions to remove the information from a line read in from a text file, but keep hitting a problem when i hit the string 00:00:04.

The compleate line is eg:

root 1 0 0 Feb17 ? 00:00:04 init [5]
I just want the parts "root 1 init"

So i use the line

$line =~/^\s*(\w+)\s*(\d+)\s*\d*\s*\d*\s*\w+\s*\d+\s* this is where the problem starts next part of line is 00:00:04

Can anyone fix this for me or show me how to get round the ':' problem

Thanks

: I am trying to use regular expressions to remove the information from a line read in from a text file, but keep hitting a problem when i hit the string 00:00:04.
:
: The compleate line is eg:
:
: root 1 0 0 Feb17 ? 00:00:04 init [5]
: I just want the parts "root 1 init"
:
: So i use the line
:

: $line =~/^\s*(\w+)\s*(\d+)\s*\d*\s*\d*\s*\w+\s*\d+\s* this is where the problem starts next part of line is 00:00:04
: 
: 

:
: Can anyone fix this for me or show me how to get round the ':' problem
:
I think you might be better off using split here.

@parts = split(/\s+/, $line);
$output = "$parts[0] $parts[1] $parts[7]";

What were you trying - you can certainly use colons in regexes...

$test = '12:00:21';
$test =~ /^(\d+):(\d+):(\d+)/;
print "$3:$2:$1"; #prints 21:00:12

Jonathan

###
for(74,117,115,116){$::a.=chr};(($_.='qwertyui')&&
(tr/yuiqwert/her anot/))for($::b);for($::c){$_.=$^X;
/(p.{2}l)/;$_=$1}$::b=~/(..)$/;print("$::a$::b $::c hack$1.");

Jonathan thanks for your help that solved my problem. I went with the split option in the end as it worked better.

Once again thankyou.

DR

: Jonathan thanks for your help that solved my problem. I went with
: the split option in the end as it worked better.
:
You're welcome. And yes, pattern matching may be cool and very powerful, but it isn't always the best solution.

Jonathan


###
for(74,117,115,116){$::a.=chr};(($_.='qwertyui')&&
(tr/yuiqwert/her anot/))for($::b);for($::c){$_.=$^X;
/(p.{2}l)/;$_=$1}$::b=~/(..)$/;print("$::a$::b $::c hack$1.");