NAME

       Regexp::Common::list -- provide regexes for lists

SYNOPSIS

           use Regexp::Common qw /list/;

           while (<>) {
               /$RE{list}{-pat => '\w+'}/          and print "List of words";
               /$RE{list}{-pat => $RE{num}{real}}/ and print "List of numbers";
           }

DESCRIPTION

       Please consult the manual of Regexp::Common for a general description of the works of this
       interface.

       Do not use this module directly, but load it via Regexp::Common.

   $RE{list}{-pat}{-sep}{-lastsep}
       Returns a pattern matching a list of (at least two) substrings.

       If "-pat=P" is specified, it defines the pattern for each substring in the list. By
       default, P is "qr/.*?\S/". In Regexp::Common 0.02 or earlier, the default pattern was
       "qr/.*?/". But that will match a single space, causing unintended parsing of "a, b, and c"
       as a list of four elements instead of 3 (with "-word" being "(?:and)").  One consequence
       is that a list of the form "a,,b" will no longer be parsed. Use the pattern "qr /.*?/" to
       be able to parse this, but see the previous remark.

       If "-sep=P" is specified, it defines the pattern P to be used as a separator between each
       pair of substrings in the list, except the final two.  By default P is "qr/\s*,\s*/".

       If "-lastsep=P" is specified, it defines the pattern P to be used as a separator between
       the final two substrings in the list.  By default P is the same as the pattern specified
       by the "-sep" flag.

       For example:

             $RE{list}{-pat=>'\w+'}                # match a list of word chars
             $RE{list}{-pat=>$RE{num}{real}}       # match a list of numbers
             $RE{list}{-sep=>"\t"}                 # match a tab-separated list
             $RE{list}{-lastsep=>',\s+and\s+'}     # match a proper English list

       Under "-keep":

       $1  captures the entire list

       $2  captures the last separator

   $RE{list}{conj}{-word=PATTERN}
       An alias for $RE{list}{-lastsep=>'\s*,?\s*PATTERN\s*'}

       If "-word" is not specified, the default pattern is "qr/and|or/".

       For example:

             $RE{list}{conj}{-word=>'et'}        # match Jean, Paul, et Satre
             $RE{list}{conj}{-word=>'oder'}      # match Bonn, Koln oder Hamburg

   $RE{list}{and}
       An alias for $RE{list}{conj}{-word=>'and'}

   $RE{list}{or}
       An alias for $RE{list}{conj}{-word=>'or'}

SEE ALSO

       Regexp::Common for a general description of how to use this interface.

AUTHOR

       Damian Conway (damian@conway.org)

MAINTAINANCE

       This package is maintained by Abigail (regexp-common@abigail.be).

BUGS AND IRRITATIONS

       Bound to be plenty.

       For a start, there are many common regexes missing.  Send them in to
       regexp-common@abigail.be.

LICENSE and COPYRIGHT

       This software is Copyright (c) 2001 - 2009, Damian Conway and Abigail.

       This module is free software, and maybe used under any of the following licenses:

        1) The Perl Artistic License.     See the file COPYRIGHT.AL.
        2) The Perl Artistic License 2.0. See the file COPYRIGHT.AL2.
        3) The BSD Licence.               See the file COPYRIGHT.BSD.
        4) The MIT Licence.               See the file COPYRIGHT.MIT.