Regex::Iterator - provides an iterator interface to regexps

	my $string = 'string to search';
	my $re     = qr/[aeiou]/i; 
	# a plain string of 'aeiou' would work as well

	





	my $it = Regex::Iterator->new($regex, $string);

	while (my $match = $it->match) {
		$it->replace('o');
	}
	print $it->result,"\n"; # 'strong to soorch'
	print $it->string,"\n"; # 'string to search'

package Regex::Iterator;

use strict;
use vars qw($VERSION);

$VERSION = "0.4";

sub new {
    my ($class, $re, $string) = @_;

    my $self          = bless {}, $class;
	
	$self->string($string);
	$self->re($re);


    return bless $self, $class;

}

sub string {
	my $self = shift;

	return $self->{_orig} unless @_;

	$self->{_orig} = $_[0];
	$self->rewind;

	return $self;
}

sub re {
	my $self = shift;

	return $self->{_re} unless @_;
	
	my $re  = $_[0];  
	$re = qr/$re/ unless ref($re) eq 'Regexp';


	$self->{_re} = $re;

	return $self;
}

sub match {
        my $self = shift;
        return undef unless defined $self->{_remain};



        local $1;
        "null" =~ m!()!; # set $1 to ""
        $self->_next();

        my $re = $self->{_re};

        $self->{_remain}   =~ /(.*?)($re)(.*)/s;


        return unless defined $2 and $2 ne "";

		
        my $match = $2;
        my $pre  = $1; $pre  = '' unless defined $pre;
		my $post = $+; $post = '' unless defined $post;

        $self->{_result}  .= $pre;
        $self->{_remain}   = $post; 
        $self->{_match}    = $match;

        return $match;
}

sub replace {
        my ($self, $replace) = @_;
        return 0 unless defined $self->{_match};
        $self->{_match} = $replace;
		return 1;
}

sub rewind {
  my $self = shift;

  $self->{_remain} = $self->string;
  $self->{$_}      = '' for qw( _match _result );

  return $self;
}

sub result {
    my $self = shift;

	return join '', grep { defined } @$self{qw/ _result _match _remain /};
}


# internal iterator method

sub _next {
         my $self = shift;
         return undef unless defined $self->{_match};
        
         $self->{_result}  .= $self->{_match};
         $self->{_match}    = undef;
}

# keep perl happy
1;