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About this quote

What does it mean?
The previous line contains a prohibited pattern, demonstrated with a humorous regex example.
In plain terms
A line had a banned word, shown with a regex.
What can you take from it?
Use regex to detect unwanted content.

Where it applies

  • moderating forums
  • searching code

Putting it to work

  • write pattern checks
  • log matches

Questions to consider

  • How can regex be both useful and obscure?

Another view

The example is cryptic without context.

More from Larry Wall

  1. The autodecrement is not magical.

    Permalink to quote #274
  2. When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi.

    Permalink to quote #276
  3. Remember though that THERE IS NO GENERAL RULE FOR CONVERTING A LIST INTO A SCALAR.

    Permalink to quote #273

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