Re: is \1 vs $1 a necessary distinction?

>>>>> "Jonathan" == Jonathan Scott Duff <[email protected]> writes:

Jonathan> On Wed, Sep 27, 2000 at 08:15:53AM -0700, Dave Storrs wrote:
>> Both \1 and $1 refer to what is matched by the first set of parens in a
>> regex.  AFAIK, the only difference between these two notation is that \1
>> is used within the regex itself and $1 is used outside of the regex.  Is
>> there any reason not to standardize these down to one notation (i.e.,
>> eliminate one or the other)?

Jonathan> \1 can be used on the LHS of a s/// whereas $1 there probably won't do
Jonathan> what you expect.  Also, \1, \2, \3 only takes you as far as \9 ;-)

Wrong.  If you have more than 10 parens visible so far, \10 works just fine.

Jonathan> If $1 could be made to work properly on the LHS of s///, I'd vote for
Jonathan> that being The Way.

It can't ever.  It means $1 from the previous match.

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