Python vs. Perl, which is better to learn?

[Roy Smith]

"Billy Ng" <kwokng at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I am also new to python.  I think python will be my replacement of perl.
> However, if I need to do very heavy regular expression, I still prefer perl.
> I just don't feel comfortable with the python's re syntax.

Granted, it's a little more verbose to say:

m = re.match (...)
if m:
   blah = m.group (1)

then to do

if (m/.../) {
   blah = $1;
}

but not much.  On the other hand, I've been burned several times by failing 
to keep track of when $1 goes out of scope (or maybe "automagically gets 
redefined" is a better way of putting it?).  If you've got to save all the 
$'s in new variables immediately after the regex, the perl version can 
easily get more verbose than python, since everything is tucked away in the 
match object, and stays there for as long as you need it.