# match mail time format elsif ($Param{String} =~ /((...),\s+|)(\d\d|\d)\s(...)\s(\d\d\d\d)\s(\d\d|\d):(\d\d|\d):(\d\d|\d)\s((\+|\-)(\d\d)(\d\d)|...)/
It matches the beginning of a date in a mail message. ie:
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 23:07:24 -0500 (EST)
The 'pipe symbol' is a logical OR. That part of the regexp says "anything followed by a space OR nothing".
This is stupid. Then use "\s*". I'm not sure if the pipe groups inside the bracket, so that the first part is: - match 3 chars (...) followed by comma (and spaces) OR - nothing at all I think the pipe inside a bracket groups the entire part regexpes. So this regexp is WRONG.
I think the whole if/elsif block should be commented out, since it's not actually doing anything. It looks like the regexp has changed number of parameters since the if/elsif block was last used (I can't see how $10 would ever be + or -, isn't it the first 2 digits of the timezone?).
The last bracket has the same problem with the pipe. It matches the timezone OR 3 chars. If it doesn't match the timezone (e. g. there is no timezone) then $10 doesn't get populated. So comes the warning when comparing $10 to '+' or '-'. Someone with commit rights, please care about this. Change it or use a CPAN module for date parsing. There are plenty of them. Thanks, bye, Uwe