Substitution to change file path

Question

I'm trying to change the directory path as shown in the code, but it just wont work. What am I doing wrong?

I'm expecting $fulltitle to be \\mynas\data\music\FABRICLive\17 - Rhodes For D - Furney.mp3

my $find = 'C:\Users\Bell';
my $replace = '\\mynas\data\music';
my $fulltitle = 'C:\Users\Bell\FABRICLive\17 - Rhodes For D - Furney.mp3';
$fulltitle =~ s/$find/$replace/;
print ("$fulltitle\n");

Does this help http://stackoverflow.com/questions/392643/how-to-use-a-variable-in-the-replacement-side-of-the-perl-substitution-operator — mathematician1975, Jul 04 '12 at 22:49

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 04 '12 at 22:50

5

quotemeta

use warnings;
use strict;

my $find      = quotemeta 'C:\Users\Bell';
my $replace   = '\\mynas\data\music';
my $fulltitle = 'C:\Users\Bell\FABRICLive\17 - Rhodes For D - Furney.mp3';
$fulltitle =~ s/$find/$replace/;
print("$fulltitle\n");

__END__

\mynas\data\music\FABRICLive\17 - Rhodes For D - Furney.mp3

warnings would have given you a clue as to what was wrong.

answered Jul 04 '12 at 22:50

toolic

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Perfect thanks, I'd never heard of quotemeta before so thanks for the knowledge :) – HeavyHead Jul 04 '12 at 23:00

vol7ron · Answer 2 · 2012-07-04T23:24:31.647

1

my $find      = 'C:\Users\Bell';
my $replace   = '\\mynas\data\music';
my $fulltitle = 'C:\Users\Bell\FABRICLive\17 - Rhodes For D - Furney.mp3';

$fulltitle    =~ s/\Q$find\E/${replace}/;
print "$fulltitle\n";

You need to use \Q and \E to disable the backslash metacharacter in the match.
Codepad Example

Note: the replacement will translate the \\ to \

edited Jul 04 '12 at 23:24

answered Jul 04 '12 at 23:18

vol7ron

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No idea what \Q and \E do exactly ... but only solution that worked when "\" are part of the search and replace. Even if within single brackets. (Only taken an hour to find this solutiion!) – Cristofayre Dec 22 '22 at 18:54

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 05 '12 at 04:26

Manipulating paths with regex sucks.

use Path::Class::Dir qw();
use Path::Class::File qw();
my $old = Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign('Win32', 'C:\Users\Bell');
my $new = Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign('Win32', '\\\\mynas\data\music');
my $file = Path::Class::File->new_foreign('Win32', 'C:\Users\Bell\FABRICLive\17 - Rhodes For D - Furney.mp3');
$file->relative($old)->absolute($new)->stringify
# '\\mynas\data\music\FABRICLive\17 - Rhodes For D - Furney.mp3'

You made a mistake in the notation of the directory with the UNC path. Double backslashes in string literals must be escaped with backslashes, that's just how the syntax works.

Substitution to change file path

3 Answers3