From: Andrew Johnson <ajohnson@...>
Date: 2006-03-29T03:38:55+09:00
Subject: Re: Regexp to match strings that _don't_ being with a string

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 03:24:36 +0900, Wes Gamble <weyus@att.net> wrote:

> I tried /^[^(xyz)]/ but I don't trust it.  I don't think the grouping 
> will take inside the character class.

The [^(xyz)] creates a negative character class, so your regex would
match any string that started with a character not in the given set.
Not what you really want

> Do I need a negative lookahead assertion?

That would be a simple solution: /^(?!xyz)/  which will match when 
the beginning of the line/string is not followed by 'xyz'.

andrew

-- 
Andrew L. Johnson   http://www.siaris.net/
      What have you done to the cat? It looks half-dead.
          -- Schroedinger's wife