Search code examples
rakunqp

Difference between single pipe and double pipe in Raku Regex (| Vs ||)


There are two types of alternation in Raku's regex: the | and ||. What is the difference ?

say 'foobar' ~~ / foo || foobar /  # 「foo」
say 'foobar' ~~ / foo | foobar /   # 「foobar」

Solution

    • The || is the old alternation behaviour: try alternation from the first declared to the last

    • The | try alternation from the longest to the shortest declarative atom. It is called the Longest Token Matching Spec strategy.

    say 'foobar' ~~ / foo || foobar /  # 「foo」 is the first declared
    say 'foobar' ~~ / foo | foobar /   # 「foobar」 is the longest token
    

    More detailed answer in this post