From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Message-ID: <4f538c0e46da2504838ea771312e7c74@quanstro.net>
From: erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net>
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:46:55 -0400
To: 9fans@9fans.net
In-Reply-To: <a560a5d00909171333t467418c6w8e03756dc5808869@mail.gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: [9fans] awk help; not plan9 matter
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 717d2b4e-ead5-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025

i don't think you need an extra () for the leading
white space.  just tack it on in with the leading expression.

the hoc is unnecessary.  just start with 2.

fn buildre {
	re = 's:^([ 	]*'
	for(i in `{seq 2 $1})
		re = $re ^ '[^ 	]+[ 	]+'
	re = $re ^ ')([^ 	]+):\1' ^ $2:
}

; buildre 1 hell
; whatis re
re='s:^([ 	]*)([^ 	]+):\1hell:'
; buildre 2 hell
; whatis re
re='s:^([ 	]*[^ 	]+[ 	]+)([^ 	]+):\1hell:'

- erik