#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use String::Approx qw(aslice); my $pattern = "the cask of amontillado"; my $input = <<EOF; groundwork for this book. after brainstorming about overarching principles of companion constructio +n and individual topics to be included, the editors crammed themselves companionably into a single + elevator while continuing to converse about the project that had brought them together. although +the elevator doors closed in the normal way, the passengers soon noticed that the elevator itself +did not stop where they expected, but descended beyond their chosen floor. all conversation stoppe +d as the doors opened upon a solid stone wall offering absolutely no egress. in unison came the cr +y "for the love of god, montresor!" this outcry, echoing the horrified plea of the victim who has + been entombed behind a stonewall in edgar allan poe's story "the cask of amontillado", was proof +positive that the editors experiencing the nightmarish elevator- ride shared a mental landscape di +stinguished by at least one landmark from the world of crime and mystery fiction. realizing this, +the group engaged in nervous laughter, which only reached a stage of true levity as the elevator d +oors closed themselves upon the masonry, the machine ascended, and the doors finally opened into a + clean, welllighted corridor. it is not insignificant that these scholars of crime and mystery wr +iting shared quotations, images, and a sense of play about a genre that demands intelligence, imag +ination, and active involvement from its readers. with the exception of the riddle , there is no f +orm o EOF my ($result) = aslice($pattern, $input); my ($index, $size) = @$result; print "index: $index\nsize: $size\n", substr($input, $index, $size), "\n";