ruby interview question

Question

I got this question in a previous interview and couldnt do it , any idea?

4. What does this do:

   `$=`;$_=\%!;($_)=/(.)/;$==++$|;($.,$/,$,,$\,$",$;,$^,$#,$~,$*,$:,@%)=( 
   $!=~/(.)(.).(.)(.)(.)(.)..(.)(.)(.)..(.)......(.)/,$"),$=++;$.++;$.++; 
   $_++;$_++;($_,$\,$,)=($~.$"."$;$/$%[$?]$_$\$,$:$%[$?]",$"&$~,$#,);$,++ 
   ;$,++;$^|=$";`$_$\$,$/$:$;$~$*$%[$?]$.$~$*${#}$%[$?]$;$\$"$^$~$*.>&$=` 
   

Answer 1

This is Perl code that prints out "Just another Perl hacker."

While most of the $_, $=, etc. variables are available in Ruby as well, the presence of statements such as $,++ indicate Perl, which actually has pre- and post-increment operators, unlike Ruby.

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I went in with Vim and replaced all the symbols with their English equivalent. I munged something up since the output is now "Just another Per hacker" (missing the L on Perl), but here's what I came up with:

use English;
`$FORMAT_LINES_PER_PAGE`;
$ARG=\%!;($ARG)=/(.)/;$FORMAT_LINES_PER_PAGE=++$OUTPUT_AUTOFLUSH;
($INPUT_LINE_NUMBER,$/,$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR,$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR,$LIST_SEPARATOR,$SUBSCRIPT_SEPARATOR,$FORMAT_TOP_NAME,$OFMT,$FORMAT_NAME,$MULTILINE_MATCHING,$FORMAT_LINE_BREAK_CHARACTERS,@%)=(
$!=~/(.)(.).(.)(.)(.)(.)..(.)(.)(.)..(.)......(.)/,$LIST_SEPARATOR),$FORMAT_LINES_PER_PAGE++;
$INPUT_LINE_NUMBER++;
$INPUT_LINE_NUMBER++; $ARG++;$ARG++;
($ARG,$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR,$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR)=($FORMAT_NAME.$LIST_SEPARATOR."$SUBSCRIPT_SEPARATOR$/$FORMAT_PAGE_NUMBER[$CHILD_ERROR]$ARG$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR$FORMAT_LINE_BREAK_CHARACTERS$FORMAT_PAGE_NUMBER[$CHILD_ERROR]",$LIST_SEPARATOR&$FORMAT_NAME,$OFMT,);
$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR++ ;
$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR++;
$FORMAT_TOP_NAME|=$LIST_SEPARATOR;
`$ARG$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR$OUTPUT_FIELD_SEPARATOR$/$FORMAT_LINE_BREAK_CHARACTERS$SUBSCRIPT_SEPARATOR$FORMAT_NAME$MULTILINE_MATCHING$FORMAT_PAGE_NUMBER[$CHILD_ERROR]$INPUT_LINE_NUMBER$FORMAT_NAME$MULTILINE_MATCHING${#}$FORMAT_PAGE_NUMBER[$CHILD_ERROR]$SUBSCRIPT_SEPARATOR$OUTPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR$LIST_SEPARATOR$FORMAT_TOP_NAME$FORMAT_NAME$MULTILINE_MATCHING.>&$FORMAT_LINES_PER_PAGE`