#!/usr/bin/perl -w

#######################################################
# lect04_subst_whitespace
#
# playing with the s/// operator with /g modifier (s///g)
# some more --- ridding values of excess whitespace...
#
# modified by Sharon Tuttle from "Learning Perl",
#    by Schartz and Phoenix
#
# last modified: 9-14-04
#######################################################

# here is a line with TOO much white space...

$_ = "\tHello,     there! \t \t How are        you?   \t\t   ";
printf "\$_ starts as:<%s>\n", $_;

# this SHOULD replace *consecutive* whitespace characters with a
#    single space:

s/\s+/ /g;

printf "\$_ is now:   <%s>\n", $_;

# this SHOULD replace any whitespace at the BEGINNING of $_ with
#    nothing (that is, REMOVE it):

s/^\s+//g;

printf "\$_ is now:   <%s>\n", $_;

# this SHOULD replace any whitespace at the END of $_ with nothing
#    (that is, remove it):

s/\s+$//;

printf "\$_ is now:   <%s>\n", $_;

# end of lect04_subst_whitespace