Re: RFC 164 (v1) Replace =~, !~, m//, and s/// with match() and subst()

Jonathan Scott Duff wrote:
> 
> I think that C<subst> is too syntactically close yet semantically far
> from C<substr> that the evil demons of confusion will rear their ugly
> heads.

I agree too, any suggestions are welcome. The fact that 'sub' and
'substr' are already taken makes this tough...
 
> Given the above, why not make a bare C<subst> do something equally
> useful?  Here are some ideas:
> 
>         subst;          # removes leading and trailing whitespace

I like this one alot.

> >    next if /\s+/ || /\w+/;          next if match /\s+/ or match /\w+/;
> 
> Gosh this is annoying.  I *really* don't want to have to type "match"
> all the time.  And now I have to use C<or> rather than C<||>, which is
> already ingrained in my head  (I rarely use "or" or "and")

v2 will clarify this some more and let you type:

   next if m/\s+/ or m/\w+/;
 
Which is essentially the same as now.

> I wonder what happens when people start typing
> 
>         $new = subst s/old/new/i, $old;

They get a syntax error! :-)

Honestly, I don't think that's a big problem. People don't do this with
split() now. I think people will either use the "backwards compat" s///
form or the function form.

-Nate