Putting code in a variable and running interactively?

[Jimmy Phillips]

I am fairly new to Perl so I wasn't real sure how to title this.

I want to build a regex interactively in a program and then run it. So
far I do it by writing it to a file along with the Perl envelope around it
then calling it from my program. Works ok but seems clunky. Then I found
a tutorial about executing perl code in a regular expression but so far it
hasn't quite worked the way I want.

So... Is it possible to put a legimate line of Perl code in a variable,
then (somehow) execute that variable. Sort of like so...

$z = "Print amount";
(execute) $z;

Or put another way. Build program B within program A then run program B
within the original program A?

If this was a standard programming environment like Builder or Kylix I
wouldn't even ask such a rediculous question, but in my so far brief
experience with Perl I haven't found much it won't to.

JP

[Jürgen Exner]

Re: Putting code in a variable and running interactively?

Jimmy Phillips wrote:[color=blue]
> So... Is it possible to put a legimate line of Perl code in a
> variable, then (somehow) execute that variable. Sort of like so...
>
> $z = "Print amount";
> (execute) $z;[/color]

perldoc -f eval

jue

[nobull@mail.com]

Re: Putting code in a variable and running interactively?

Jimmy Phillips <sendto@spammer s.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2004. 08.25.01.44.53. 843246@spammers .com>...[color=blue]
> I am fairly new to Perl so I wasn't real sure how to title this.[/color]

Actually I would put your subject line in the top 5%. Good subject
lines are what make Usenet a really useful searchable resource. At
least they are when you post to newsgroups that actually exist.
[color=blue]
> So... Is it possible to put a legimate line of Perl code in a variable,
> then (somehow) execute that variable.[/color]

Jürgen has answered that but I'm not sure if you really need to.
[color=blue]
> I want to build a regex interactively in a program and then run it.[/color]

What do you mean by "run it". You don't run regular expressions, you
use them in m// or s/// or split().

You can use a calcualated regex directly in a m// or s/// or split() -
no need to resort to evi^Hal.

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