Commit | Line | Data |
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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
3 | perltrap - Perl traps for the unwary |
4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
6 | |
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7 | The biggest trap of all is forgetting to use the B<-w> switch; see |
8 | L<perlrun>. The second biggest trap is not making your entire program |
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9 | runnable under C<use strict>. The third biggest trap is not reading |
10 | the list of changes in this version of Perl; see L<perldelta>. |
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11 | |
12 | =head2 Awk Traps |
13 | |
14 | Accustomed B<awk> users should take special note of the following: |
15 | |
16 | =over 4 |
17 | |
18 | =item * |
19 | |
20 | The English module, loaded via |
21 | |
22 | use English; |
23 | |
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24 | allows you to refer to special variables (like C<$/>) with names (like |
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25 | $RS), as though they were in B<awk>; see L<perlvar> for details. |
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26 | |
27 | =item * |
28 | |
29 | Semicolons are required after all simple statements in Perl (except |
30 | at the end of a block). Newline is not a statement delimiter. |
31 | |
32 | =item * |
33 | |
34 | Curly brackets are required on C<if>s and C<while>s. |
35 | |
36 | =item * |
37 | |
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38 | Variables begin with "$", "@" or "%" in Perl. |
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39 | |
40 | =item * |
41 | |
42 | Arrays index from 0. Likewise string positions in substr() and |
43 | index(). |
44 | |
45 | =item * |
46 | |
47 | You have to decide whether your array has numeric or string indices. |
48 | |
49 | =item * |
50 | |
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51 | Hash values do not spring into existence upon mere reference. |
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52 | |
53 | =item * |
54 | |
55 | You have to decide whether you want to use string or numeric |
56 | comparisons. |
57 | |
58 | =item * |
59 | |
60 | Reading an input line does not split it for you. You get to split it |
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61 | to an array yourself. And the split() operator has different |
62 | arguments than B<awk>'s. |
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63 | |
64 | =item * |
65 | |
66 | The current input line is normally in $_, not $0. It generally does |
67 | not have the newline stripped. ($0 is the name of the program |
68 | executed.) See L<perlvar>. |
69 | |
70 | =item * |
71 | |
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72 | $<I<digit>> does not refer to fields--it refers to substrings matched |
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73 | by the last match pattern. |
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74 | |
75 | =item * |
76 | |
77 | The print() statement does not add field and record separators unless |
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78 | you set C<$,> and C<$\>. You can set $OFS and $ORS if you're using |
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79 | the English module. |
80 | |
81 | =item * |
82 | |
83 | You must open your files before you print to them. |
84 | |
85 | =item * |
86 | |
87 | The range operator is "..", not comma. The comma operator works as in |
88 | C. |
89 | |
90 | =item * |
91 | |
92 | The match operator is "=~", not "~". ("~" is the one's complement |
93 | operator, as in C.) |
94 | |
95 | =item * |
96 | |
97 | The exponentiation operator is "**", not "^". "^" is the XOR |
98 | operator, as in C. (You know, one could get the feeling that B<awk> is |
99 | basically incompatible with C.) |
100 | |
101 | =item * |
102 | |
103 | The concatenation operator is ".", not the null string. (Using the |
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104 | null string would render C</pat/ /pat/> unparsable, because the third slash |
105 | would be interpreted as a division operator--the tokenizer is in fact |
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106 | slightly context sensitive for operators like "/", "?", and ">". |
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107 | And in fact, "." itself can be the beginning of a number.) |
108 | |
109 | =item * |
110 | |
111 | The C<next>, C<exit>, and C<continue> keywords work differently. |
112 | |
113 | =item * |
114 | |
115 | |
116 | The following variables work differently: |
117 | |
118 | Awk Perl |
119 | ARGC $#ARGV or scalar @ARGV |
120 | ARGV[0] $0 |
121 | FILENAME $ARGV |
122 | FNR $. - something |
123 | FS (whatever you like) |
124 | NF $#Fld, or some such |
125 | NR $. |
126 | OFMT $# |
127 | OFS $, |
128 | ORS $\ |
129 | RLENGTH length($&) |
130 | RS $/ |
131 | RSTART length($`) |
132 | SUBSEP $; |
133 | |
134 | =item * |
135 | |
136 | You cannot set $RS to a pattern, only a string. |
137 | |
138 | =item * |
139 | |
140 | When in doubt, run the B<awk> construct through B<a2p> and see what it |
141 | gives you. |
142 | |
143 | =back |
144 | |
145 | =head2 C Traps |
146 | |
147 | Cerebral C programmers should take note of the following: |
148 | |
149 | =over 4 |
150 | |
151 | =item * |
152 | |
153 | Curly brackets are required on C<if>'s and C<while>'s. |
154 | |
155 | =item * |
156 | |
157 | You must use C<elsif> rather than C<else if>. |
158 | |
159 | =item * |
160 | |
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161 | The C<break> and C<continue> keywords from C become in |
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162 | Perl C<last> and C<next>, respectively. |
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163 | Unlike in C, these do I<not> work within a C<do { } while> construct. |
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164 | |
165 | =item * |
166 | |
167 | There's no switch statement. (But it's easy to build one on the fly.) |
168 | |
169 | =item * |
170 | |
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171 | Variables begin with "$", "@" or "%" in Perl. |
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172 | |
173 | =item * |
174 | |
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175 | Comments begin with "#", not "/*". |
176 | |
177 | =item * |
178 | |
179 | You can't take the address of anything, although a similar operator |
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180 | in Perl is the backslash, which creates a reference. |
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181 | |
182 | =item * |
183 | |
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184 | C<ARGV> must be capitalized. C<$ARGV[0]> is C's C<argv[1]>, and C<argv[0]> |
185 | ends up in C<$0>. |
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186 | |
187 | =item * |
188 | |
189 | System calls such as link(), unlink(), rename(), etc. return nonzero for |
190 | success, not 0. |
191 | |
192 | =item * |
193 | |
194 | Signal handlers deal with signal names, not numbers. Use C<kill -l> |
195 | to find their names on your system. |
196 | |
197 | =back |
198 | |
199 | =head2 Sed Traps |
200 | |
201 | Seasoned B<sed> programmers should take note of the following: |
202 | |
203 | =over 4 |
204 | |
205 | =item * |
206 | |
207 | Backreferences in substitutions use "$" rather than "\". |
208 | |
209 | =item * |
210 | |
211 | The pattern matching metacharacters "(", ")", and "|" do not have backslashes |
212 | in front. |
213 | |
214 | =item * |
215 | |
216 | The range operator is C<...>, rather than comma. |
217 | |
218 | =back |
219 | |
220 | =head2 Shell Traps |
221 | |
222 | Sharp shell programmers should take note of the following: |
223 | |
224 | =over 4 |
225 | |
226 | =item * |
227 | |
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228 | The backtick operator does variable interpolation without regard to |
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229 | the presence of single quotes in the command. |
230 | |
231 | =item * |
232 | |
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233 | The backtick operator does no translation of the return value, unlike B<csh>. |
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234 | |
235 | =item * |
236 | |
237 | Shells (especially B<csh>) do several levels of substitution on each |
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238 | command line. Perl does substitution in only certain constructs |
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239 | such as double quotes, backticks, angle brackets, and search patterns. |
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240 | |
241 | =item * |
242 | |
243 | Shells interpret scripts a little bit at a time. Perl compiles the |
244 | entire program before executing it (except for C<BEGIN> blocks, which |
245 | execute at compile time). |
246 | |
247 | =item * |
248 | |
249 | The arguments are available via @ARGV, not $1, $2, etc. |
250 | |
251 | =item * |
252 | |
253 | The environment is not automatically made available as separate scalar |
254 | variables. |
255 | |
256 | =back |
257 | |
258 | =head2 Perl Traps |
259 | |
260 | Practicing Perl Programmers should take note of the following: |
261 | |
262 | =over 4 |
263 | |
264 | =item * |
265 | |
266 | Remember that many operations behave differently in a list |
267 | context than they do in a scalar one. See L<perldata> for details. |
268 | |
269 | =item * |
270 | |
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271 | Avoid barewords if you can, especially all lowercase ones. |
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272 | You can't tell by just looking at it whether a bareword is |
273 | a function or a string. By using quotes on strings and |
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274 | parentheses on function calls, you won't ever get them confused. |
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275 | |
276 | =item * |
277 | |
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278 | You cannot discern from mere inspection which builtins |
279 | are unary operators (like chop() and chdir()) |
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280 | and which are list operators (like print() and unlink()). |
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281 | (User-defined subroutines can be B<only> list operators, never |
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282 | unary ones.) See L<perlop>. |
283 | |
284 | =item * |
285 | |
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286 | People have a hard time remembering that some functions |
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287 | default to $_, or @ARGV, or whatever, but that others which |
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288 | you might expect to do not. |
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289 | |
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290 | =item * |
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291 | |
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292 | The <FH> construct is not the name of the filehandle, it is a readline |
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293 | operation on that handle. The data read is assigned to $_ only if the |
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294 | file read is the sole condition in a while loop: |
295 | |
296 | while (<FH>) { } |
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297 | while (defined($_ = <FH>)) { }.. |
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298 | <FH>; # data discarded! |
299 | |
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300 | =item * |
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301 | |
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302 | Remember not to use C<=> when you need C<=~>; |
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303 | these two constructs are quite different: |
304 | |
305 | $x = /foo/; |
306 | $x =~ /foo/; |
307 | |
308 | =item * |
309 | |
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310 | The C<do {}> construct isn't a real loop that you can use |
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311 | loop control on. |
312 | |
313 | =item * |
314 | |
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315 | Use C<my()> for local variables whenever you can get away with |
316 | it (but see L<perlform> for where you can't). |
317 | Using C<local()> actually gives a local value to a global |
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318 | variable, which leaves you open to unforeseen side-effects |
319 | of dynamic scoping. |
320 | |
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321 | =item * |
322 | |
323 | If you localize an exported variable in a module, its exported value will |
324 | not change. The local name becomes an alias to a new value but the |
325 | external name is still an alias for the original. |
326 | |
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327 | =back |
328 | |
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329 | =head2 Perl4 to Perl5 Traps |
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330 | |
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331 | Practicing Perl4 Programmers should take note of the following |
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332 | Perl4-to-Perl5 specific traps. |
333 | |
334 | They're crudely ordered according to the following list: |
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335 | |
336 | =over 4 |
337 | |
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338 | =item Discontinuance, Deprecation, and BugFix traps |
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339 | |
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340 | Anything that's been fixed as a perl4 bug, removed as a perl4 feature |
341 | or deprecated as a perl4 feature with the intent to encourage usage of |
342 | some other perl5 feature. |
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343 | |
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344 | =item Parsing Traps |
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345 | |
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346 | Traps that appear to stem from the new parser. |
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347 | |
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348 | =item Numerical Traps |
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349 | |
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350 | Traps having to do with numerical or mathematical operators. |
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351 | |
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352 | =item General data type traps |
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353 | |
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354 | Traps involving perl standard data types. |
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355 | |
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356 | =item Context Traps - scalar, list contexts |
357 | |
358 | Traps related to context within lists, scalar statements/declarations. |
359 | |
360 | =item Precedence Traps |
361 | |
362 | Traps related to the precedence of parsing, evaluation, and execution of |
363 | code. |
364 | |
365 | =item General Regular Expression Traps using s///, etc. |
366 | |
367 | Traps related to the use of pattern matching. |
368 | |
369 | =item Subroutine, Signal, Sorting Traps |
370 | |
371 | Traps related to the use of signals and signal handlers, general subroutines, |
372 | and sorting, along with sorting subroutines. |
373 | |
374 | =item OS Traps |
375 | |
376 | OS-specific traps. |
377 | |
378 | =item DBM Traps |
379 | |
380 | Traps specific to the use of C<dbmopen()>, and specific dbm implementations. |
381 | |
382 | =item Unclassified Traps |
383 | |
384 | Everything else. |
385 | |
386 | =back |
387 | |
388 | If you find an example of a conversion trap that is not listed here, |
4375e838 |
389 | please submit it to <F<perlbug@perl.org>> for inclusion. |
9f1b1f2d |
390 | Also note that at least some of these can be caught with the |
391 | C<use warnings> pragma or the B<-w> switch. |
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392 | |
393 | =head2 Discontinuance, Deprecation, and BugFix traps |
394 | |
395 | Anything that has been discontinued, deprecated, or fixed as |
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396 | a bug from perl4. |
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397 | |
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398 | =over 4 |
399 | |
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400 | =item * Discontinuance |
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401 | |
402 | Symbols starting with "_" are no longer forced into package main, except |
403 | for C<$_> itself (and C<@_>, etc.). |
404 | |
405 | package test; |
406 | $_legacy = 1; |
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407 | |
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408 | package main; |
409 | print "\$_legacy is ",$_legacy,"\n"; |
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410 | |
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411 | # perl4 prints: $_legacy is 1 |
412 | # perl5 prints: $_legacy is |
413 | |
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414 | =item * Deprecation |
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415 | |
416 | Double-colon is now a valid package separator in a variable name. Thus these |
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417 | behave differently in perl4 vs. perl5, because the packages don't exist. |
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418 | |
419 | $a=1;$b=2;$c=3;$var=4; |
420 | print "$a::$b::$c "; |
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421 | print "$var::abc::xyz\n"; |
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422 | |
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423 | # perl4 prints: 1::2::3 4::abc::xyz |
424 | # perl5 prints: 3 |
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425 | |
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426 | Given that C<::> is now the preferred package delimiter, it is debatable |
427 | whether this should be classed as a bug or not. |
428 | (The older package delimiter, ' ,is used here) |
cb1a09d0 |
429 | |
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430 | $x = 10 ; |
431 | print "x=${'x}\n" ; |
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432 | |
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433 | # perl4 prints: x=10 |
434 | # perl5 prints: Can't find string terminator "'" anywhere before EOF |
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435 | |
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436 | You can avoid this problem, and remain compatible with perl4, if you |
437 | always explicitly include the package name: |
438 | |
439 | $x = 10 ; |
440 | print "x=${main'x}\n" ; |
441 | |
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442 | Also see precedence traps, for parsing C<$:>. |
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443 | |
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444 | =item * BugFix |
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445 | |
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446 | The second and third arguments of C<splice()> are now evaluated in scalar |
447 | context (as the Camel says) rather than list context. |
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448 | |
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449 | sub sub1{return(0,2) } # return a 2-element list |
450 | sub sub2{ return(1,2,3)} # return a 3-element list |
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451 | @a1 = ("a","b","c","d","e"); |
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452 | @a2 = splice(@a1,&sub1,&sub2); |
453 | print join(' ',@a2),"\n"; |
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454 | |
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455 | # perl4 prints: a b |
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456 | # perl5 prints: c d e |
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457 | |
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458 | =item * Discontinuance |
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459 | |
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460 | You can't do a C<goto> into a block that is optimized away. Darn. |
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461 | |
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462 | goto marker1; |
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463 | |
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464 | for(1){ |
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465 | marker1: |
466 | print "Here I is!\n"; |
54310121 |
467 | } |
468 | |
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469 | # perl4 prints: Here I is! |
470 | # perl5 dumps core (SEGV) |
471 | |
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472 | =item * Discontinuance |
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473 | |
474 | It is no longer syntactically legal to use whitespace as the name |
475 | of a variable, or as a delimiter for any kind of quote construct. |
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476 | Double darn. |
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477 | |
478 | $a = ("foo bar"); |
479 | $b = q baz ; |
480 | print "a is $a, b is $b\n"; |
54310121 |
481 | |
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482 | # perl4 prints: a is foo bar, b is baz |
54310121 |
483 | # perl5 errors: Bareword found where operator expected |
5e378fdf |
484 | |
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485 | =item * Discontinuance |
486 | |
487 | The archaic while/if BLOCK BLOCK syntax is no longer supported. |
488 | |
489 | if { 1 } { |
490 | print "True!"; |
491 | } |
492 | else { |
493 | print "False!"; |
494 | } |
54310121 |
495 | |
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496 | # perl4 prints: True! |
497 | # perl5 errors: syntax error at test.pl line 1, near "if {" |
498 | |
499 | =item * BugFix |
500 | |
501 | The C<**> operator now binds more tightly than unary minus. |
502 | It was documented to work this way before, but didn't. |
503 | |
504 | print -4**2,"\n"; |
54310121 |
505 | |
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506 | # perl4 prints: 16 |
507 | # perl5 prints: -16 |
508 | |
54310121 |
509 | =item * Discontinuance |
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510 | |
511 | The meaning of C<foreach{}> has changed slightly when it is iterating over a |
512 | list which is not an array. This used to assign the list to a |
513 | temporary array, but no longer does so (for efficiency). This means |
514 | that you'll now be iterating over the actual values, not over copies of |
515 | the values. Modifications to the loop variable can change the original |
516 | values. |
517 | |
518 | @list = ('ab','abc','bcd','def'); |
519 | foreach $var (grep(/ab/,@list)){ |
520 | $var = 1; |
521 | } |
522 | print (join(':',@list)); |
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523 | |
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524 | # perl4 prints: ab:abc:bcd:def |
525 | # perl5 prints: 1:1:bcd:def |
526 | |
527 | To retain Perl4 semantics you need to assign your list |
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528 | explicitly to a temporary array and then iterate over that. For |
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529 | example, you might need to change |
530 | |
531 | foreach $var (grep(/ab/,@list)){ |
532 | |
533 | to |
534 | |
535 | foreach $var (@tmp = grep(/ab/,@list)){ |
536 | |
537 | Otherwise changing $var will clobber the values of @list. (This most often |
538 | happens when you use C<$_> for the loop variable, and call subroutines in |
539 | the loop that don't properly localize C<$_>.) |
540 | |
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541 | =item * Discontinuance |
542 | |
543 | C<split> with no arguments now behaves like C<split ' '> (which doesn't |
544 | return an initial null field if $_ starts with whitespace), it used to |
545 | behave like C<split /\s+/> (which does). |
546 | |
547 | $_ = ' hi mom'; |
548 | print join(':', split); |
549 | |
550 | # perl4 prints: :hi:mom |
551 | # perl5 prints: hi:mom |
552 | |
55497cff |
553 | =item * BugFix |
554 | |
9607fc9c |
555 | Perl 4 would ignore any text which was attached to an B<-e> switch, |
55497cff |
556 | always taking the code snippet from the following arg. Additionally, it |
9607fc9c |
557 | would silently accept an B<-e> switch without a following arg. Both of |
55497cff |
558 | these behaviors have been fixed. |
559 | |
560 | perl -e'print "attached to -e"' 'print "separate arg"' |
54310121 |
561 | |
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562 | # perl4 prints: separate arg |
563 | # perl5 prints: attached to -e |
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564 | |
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565 | perl -e |
566 | |
567 | # perl4 prints: |
568 | # perl5 dies: No code specified for -e. |
569 | |
570 | =item * Discontinuance |
571 | |
572 | In Perl 4 the return value of C<push> was undocumented, but it was |
573 | actually the last value being pushed onto the target list. In Perl 5 |
574 | the return value of C<push> is documented, but has changed, it is the |
575 | number of elements in the resulting list. |
576 | |
577 | @x = ('existing'); |
578 | print push(@x, 'first new', 'second new'); |
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579 | |
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580 | # perl4 prints: second new |
581 | # perl5 prints: 3 |
582 | |
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583 | =item * Deprecation |
584 | |
585 | Some error messages will be different. |
586 | |
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587 | =item * Discontinuance |
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588 | |
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589 | In Perl 4, if in list context the delimiters to the first argument of |
590 | C<split()> were C<??>, the result would be placed in C<@_> as well as |
591 | being returned. Perl 5 has more respect for your subroutine arguments. |
592 | |
593 | =item * Discontinuance |
594 | |
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595 | Some bugs may have been inadvertently removed. :-) |
596 | |
597 | =back |
598 | |
599 | =head2 Parsing Traps |
600 | |
601 | Perl4-to-Perl5 traps from having to do with parsing. |
602 | |
603 | =over 4 |
604 | |
605 | =item * Parsing |
606 | |
607 | Note the space between . and = |
608 | |
609 | $string . = "more string"; |
610 | print $string; |
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611 | |
6dbacca0 |
612 | # perl4 prints: more string |
613 | # perl5 prints: syntax error at - line 1, near ". =" |
614 | |
615 | =item * Parsing |
616 | |
617 | Better parsing in perl 5 |
618 | |
619 | sub foo {} |
620 | &foo |
621 | print("hello, world\n"); |
54310121 |
622 | |
6dbacca0 |
623 | # perl4 prints: hello, world |
624 | # perl5 prints: syntax error |
625 | |
626 | =item * Parsing |
627 | |
628 | "if it looks like a function, it is a function" rule. |
629 | |
630 | print |
631 | ($foo == 1) ? "is one\n" : "is zero\n"; |
54310121 |
632 | |
6dbacca0 |
633 | # perl4 prints: is zero |
634 | # perl5 warns: "Useless use of a constant in void context" if using -w |
635 | |
c12982c8 |
636 | =item * Parsing |
637 | |
638 | String interpolation of the C<$#array> construct differs when braces |
639 | are to used around the name. |
640 | |
641 | @ = (1..3); |
642 | print "${#a}"; |
643 | |
644 | # perl4 prints: 2 |
645 | # perl5 fails with syntax error |
646 | |
647 | @ = (1..3); |
648 | print "$#{a}"; |
649 | |
650 | # perl4 prints: {a} |
651 | # perl5 prints: 2 |
652 | |
6dbacca0 |
653 | =back |
654 | |
655 | =head2 Numerical Traps |
656 | |
657 | Perl4-to-Perl5 traps having to do with numerical operators, |
658 | operands, or output from same. |
659 | |
660 | =over 5 |
661 | |
662 | =item * Numerical |
663 | |
664 | Formatted output and significant digits |
665 | |
666 | print 7.373504 - 0, "\n"; |
54310121 |
667 | printf "%20.18f\n", 7.373504 - 0; |
668 | |
6dbacca0 |
669 | # Perl4 prints: |
670 | 7.375039999999996141 |
671 | 7.37503999999999614 |
54310121 |
672 | |
6dbacca0 |
673 | # Perl5 prints: |
674 | 7.373504 |
675 | 7.37503999999999614 |
676 | |
677 | =item * Numerical |
678 | |
5f05dabc |
679 | This specific item has been deleted. It demonstrated how the auto-increment |
5e378fdf |
680 | operator would not catch when a number went over the signed int limit. Fixed |
a6006777 |
681 | in version 5.003_04. But always be wary when using large integers. |
682 | If in doubt: |
6dbacca0 |
683 | |
5e378fdf |
684 | use Math::BigInt; |
6dbacca0 |
685 | |
54310121 |
686 | =item * Numerical |
6dbacca0 |
687 | |
688 | Assignment of return values from numeric equality tests |
689 | does not work in perl5 when the test evaluates to false (0). |
690 | Logical tests now return an null, instead of 0 |
a6006777 |
691 | |
6dbacca0 |
692 | $p = ($test == 1); |
693 | print $p,"\n"; |
a6006777 |
694 | |
6dbacca0 |
695 | # perl4 prints: 0 |
696 | # perl5 prints: |
697 | |
dc848c6f |
698 | Also see L<"General Regular Expression Traps using s///, etc."> |
699 | for another example of this new feature... |
6dbacca0 |
700 | |
651ad3b1 |
701 | =item * Bitwise string ops |
702 | |
703 | When bitwise operators which can operate upon either numbers or |
704 | strings (C<& | ^ ~>) are given only strings as arguments, perl4 would |
705 | treat the operands as bitstrings so long as the program contained a call |
706 | to the C<vec()> function. perl5 treats the string operands as bitstrings. |
707 | (See L<perlop/Bitwise String Operators> for more details.) |
708 | |
709 | $fred = "10"; |
710 | $barney = "12"; |
711 | $betty = $fred & $barney; |
712 | print "$betty\n"; |
713 | # Uncomment the next line to change perl4's behavior |
714 | # ($dummy) = vec("dummy", 0, 0); |
715 | |
716 | # Perl4 prints: |
717 | 8 |
718 | |
719 | # Perl5 prints: |
720 | 10 |
721 | |
722 | # If vec() is used anywhere in the program, both print: |
723 | 10 |
724 | |
6dbacca0 |
725 | =back |
726 | |
727 | =head2 General data type traps |
728 | |
729 | Perl4-to-Perl5 traps involving most data-types, and their usage |
730 | within certain expressions and/or context. |
731 | |
732 | =over 5 |
733 | |
734 | =item * (Arrays) |
735 | |
736 | Negative array subscripts now count from the end of the array. |
737 | |
738 | @a = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5); |
739 | print "The third element of the array is $a[3] also expressed as $a[-2] \n"; |
54310121 |
740 | |
6dbacca0 |
741 | # perl4 prints: The third element of the array is 4 also expressed as |
742 | # perl5 prints: The third element of the array is 4 also expressed as 4 |
743 | |
744 | =item * (Arrays) |
745 | |
746 | Setting C<$#array> lower now discards array elements, and makes them |
747 | impossible to recover. |
748 | |
54310121 |
749 | @a = (a,b,c,d,e); |
6dbacca0 |
750 | print "Before: ",join('',@a); |
54310121 |
751 | $#a =1; |
6dbacca0 |
752 | print ", After: ",join('',@a); |
753 | $#a =3; |
754 | print ", Recovered: ",join('',@a),"\n"; |
54310121 |
755 | |
6dbacca0 |
756 | # perl4 prints: Before: abcde, After: ab, Recovered: abcd |
757 | # perl5 prints: Before: abcde, After: ab, Recovered: ab |
758 | |
759 | =item * (Hashes) |
760 | |
761 | Hashes get defined before use |
762 | |
54310121 |
763 | local($s,@a,%h); |
6dbacca0 |
764 | die "scalar \$s defined" if defined($s); |
765 | die "array \@a defined" if defined(@a); |
766 | die "hash \%h defined" if defined(%h); |
54310121 |
767 | |
6dbacca0 |
768 | # perl4 prints: |
769 | # perl5 dies: hash %h defined |
770 | |
475342a6 |
771 | Perl will now generate a warning when it sees defined(@a) and |
772 | defined(%h). |
773 | |
6dbacca0 |
774 | =item * (Globs) |
775 | |
776 | glob assignment from variable to variable will fail if the assigned |
777 | variable is localized subsequent to the assignment |
778 | |
779 | @a = ("This is Perl 4"); |
780 | *b = *a; |
781 | local(@a); |
782 | print @b,"\n"; |
54310121 |
783 | |
6dbacca0 |
784 | # perl4 prints: This is Perl 4 |
785 | # perl5 prints: |
54310121 |
786 | |
a3cb178b |
787 | =item * (Globs) |
54310121 |
788 | |
a3cb178b |
789 | Assigning C<undef> to a glob has no effect in Perl 5. In Perl 4 |
790 | it undefines the associated scalar (but may have other side effects |
791 | including SEGVs). |
5e378fdf |
792 | |
6dbacca0 |
793 | =item * (Scalar String) |
794 | |
795 | Changes in unary negation (of strings) |
796 | This change effects both the return value and what it |
797 | does to auto(magic)increment. |
798 | |
799 | $x = "aaa"; |
800 | print ++$x," : "; |
801 | print -$x," : "; |
802 | print ++$x,"\n"; |
54310121 |
803 | |
6dbacca0 |
804 | # perl4 prints: aab : -0 : 1 |
805 | # perl5 prints: aab : -aab : aac |
806 | |
807 | =item * (Constants) |
808 | |
809 | perl 4 lets you modify constants: |
810 | |
811 | $foo = "x"; |
812 | &mod($foo); |
813 | for ($x = 0; $x < 3; $x++) { |
814 | &mod("a"); |
815 | } |
816 | sub mod { |
817 | print "before: $_[0]"; |
818 | $_[0] = "m"; |
819 | print " after: $_[0]\n"; |
820 | } |
54310121 |
821 | |
6dbacca0 |
822 | # perl4: |
823 | # before: x after: m |
824 | # before: a after: m |
825 | # before: m after: m |
826 | # before: m after: m |
54310121 |
827 | |
6dbacca0 |
828 | # Perl5: |
829 | # before: x after: m |
830 | # Modification of a read-only value attempted at foo.pl line 12. |
831 | # before: a |
832 | |
833 | =item * (Scalars) |
834 | |
835 | The behavior is slightly different for: |
836 | |
837 | print "$x", defined $x |
54310121 |
838 | |
6dbacca0 |
839 | # perl 4: 1 |
840 | # perl 5: <no output, $x is not called into existence> |
841 | |
842 | =item * (Variable Suicide) |
843 | |
844 | Variable suicide behavior is more consistent under Perl 5. |
aa689395 |
845 | Perl5 exhibits the same behavior for hashes and scalars, |
5f05dabc |
846 | that perl4 exhibits for only scalars. |
6dbacca0 |
847 | |
848 | $aGlobal{ "aKey" } = "global value"; |
849 | print "MAIN:", $aGlobal{"aKey"}, "\n"; |
850 | $GlobalLevel = 0; |
851 | &test( *aGlobal ); |
852 | |
853 | sub test { |
854 | local( *theArgument ) = @_; |
855 | local( %aNewLocal ); # perl 4 != 5.001l,m |
54310121 |
856 | $aNewLocal{"aKey"} = "this should never appear"; |
6dbacca0 |
857 | print "SUB: ", $theArgument{"aKey"}, "\n"; |
858 | $aNewLocal{"aKey"} = "level $GlobalLevel"; # what should print |
859 | $GlobalLevel++; |
860 | if( $GlobalLevel<4 ) { |
861 | &test( *aNewLocal ); |
862 | } |
863 | } |
54310121 |
864 | |
6dbacca0 |
865 | # Perl4: |
866 | # MAIN:global value |
867 | # SUB: global value |
868 | # SUB: level 0 |
869 | # SUB: level 1 |
870 | # SUB: level 2 |
54310121 |
871 | |
6dbacca0 |
872 | # Perl5: |
873 | # MAIN:global value |
874 | # SUB: global value |
875 | # SUB: this should never appear |
876 | # SUB: this should never appear |
877 | # SUB: this should never appear |
878 | |
84dc3c4d |
879 | =back |
6dbacca0 |
880 | |
881 | =head2 Context Traps - scalar, list contexts |
882 | |
883 | =over 5 |
884 | |
885 | =item * (list context) |
886 | |
887 | The elements of argument lists for formats are now evaluated in list |
888 | context. This means you can interpolate list values now. |
889 | |
890 | @fmt = ("foo","bar","baz"); |
891 | format STDOUT= |
892 | @<<<<< @||||| @>>>>> |
893 | @fmt; |
894 | . |
54310121 |
895 | write; |
896 | |
6dbacca0 |
897 | # perl4 errors: Please use commas to separate fields in file |
898 | # perl5 prints: foo bar baz |
899 | |
900 | =item * (scalar context) |
901 | |
54310121 |
902 | The C<caller()> function now returns a false value in a scalar context |
903 | if there is no caller. This lets library files determine if they're |
6dbacca0 |
904 | being required. |
905 | |
906 | caller() ? (print "You rang?\n") : (print "Got a 0\n"); |
54310121 |
907 | |
6dbacca0 |
908 | # perl4 errors: There is no caller |
909 | # perl5 prints: Got a 0 |
5e378fdf |
910 | |
6dbacca0 |
911 | =item * (scalar context) |
912 | |
913 | The comma operator in a scalar context is now guaranteed to give a |
914 | scalar context to its arguments. |
915 | |
916 | @y= ('a','b','c'); |
917 | $x = (1, 2, @y); |
918 | print "x = $x\n"; |
54310121 |
919 | |
6dbacca0 |
920 | # Perl4 prints: x = c # Thinks list context interpolates list |
921 | # Perl5 prints: x = 3 # Knows scalar uses length of list |
922 | |
923 | =item * (list, builtin) |
924 | |
925 | C<sprintf()> funkiness (array argument converted to scalar array count) |
926 | This test could be added to t/op/sprintf.t |
927 | |
928 | @z = ('%s%s', 'foo', 'bar'); |
929 | $x = sprintf(@z); |
930 | if ($x eq 'foobar') {print "ok 2\n";} else {print "not ok 2 '$x'\n";} |
54310121 |
931 | |
6dbacca0 |
932 | # perl4 prints: ok 2 |
933 | # perl5 prints: not ok 2 |
934 | |
935 | C<printf()> works fine, though: |
936 | |
937 | printf STDOUT (@z); |
54310121 |
938 | print "\n"; |
939 | |
6dbacca0 |
940 | # perl4 prints: foobar |
941 | # perl5 prints: foobar |
942 | |
943 | Probably a bug. |
944 | |
945 | =back |
946 | |
947 | =head2 Precedence Traps |
948 | |
949 | Perl4-to-Perl5 traps involving precedence order. |
950 | |
f4b17341 |
951 | Perl 4 has almost the same precedence rules as Perl 5 for the operators |
952 | that they both have. Perl 4 however, seems to have had some |
953 | inconsistencies that made the behavior differ from what was documented. |
954 | |
84dc3c4d |
955 | =over 5 |
956 | |
5e378fdf |
957 | =item * Precedence |
958 | |
8dbef698 |
959 | LHS vs. RHS of any assignment operator. LHS is evaluated first |
960 | in perl4, second in perl5; this can affect the relationship |
961 | between side-effects in sub-expressions. |
5e378fdf |
962 | |
963 | @arr = ( 'left', 'right' ); |
964 | $a{shift @arr} = shift @arr; |
965 | print join( ' ', keys %a ); |
966 | |
967 | # perl4 prints: left |
968 | # perl5 prints: right |
969 | |
970 | =item * Precedence |
6dbacca0 |
971 | |
972 | These are now semantic errors because of precedence: |
973 | |
974 | @list = (1,2,3,4,5); |
975 | %map = ("a",1,"b",2,"c",3,"d",4); |
976 | $n = shift @list + 2; # first item in list plus 2 |
977 | print "n is $n, "; |
978 | $m = keys %map + 2; # number of items in hash plus 2 |
979 | print "m is $m\n"; |
54310121 |
980 | |
6dbacca0 |
981 | # perl4 prints: n is 3, m is 6 |
982 | # perl5 errors and fails to compile |
983 | |
984 | =item * Precedence |
a0d0e21e |
985 | |
4633a7c4 |
986 | The precedence of assignment operators is now the same as the precedence |
987 | of assignment. Perl 4 mistakenly gave them the precedence of the associated |
988 | operator. So you now must parenthesize them in expressions like |
989 | |
990 | /foo/ ? ($a += 2) : ($a -= 2); |
a6006777 |
991 | |
4633a7c4 |
992 | Otherwise |
993 | |
6dbacca0 |
994 | /foo/ ? $a += 2 : $a -= 2 |
4633a7c4 |
995 | |
996 | would be erroneously parsed as |
997 | |
998 | (/foo/ ? $a += 2 : $a) -= 2; |
999 | |
1000 | On the other hand, |
1001 | |
54310121 |
1002 | $a += /foo/ ? 1 : 2; |
4633a7c4 |
1003 | |
1004 | now works as a C programmer would expect. |
1005 | |
6dbacca0 |
1006 | =item * Precedence |
4633a7c4 |
1007 | |
6dbacca0 |
1008 | open FOO || die; |
a0d0e21e |
1009 | |
5f05dabc |
1010 | is now incorrect. You need parentheses around the filehandle. |
1011 | Otherwise, perl5 leaves the statement as its default precedence: |
a0d0e21e |
1012 | |
6dbacca0 |
1013 | open(FOO || die); |
54310121 |
1014 | |
6dbacca0 |
1015 | # perl4 opens or dies |
1016 | # perl5 errors: Precedence problem: open FOO should be open(FOO) |
a0d0e21e |
1017 | |
6dbacca0 |
1018 | =item * Precedence |
a0d0e21e |
1019 | |
6dbacca0 |
1020 | perl4 gives the special variable, C<$:> precedence, where perl5 |
1021 | treats C<$::> as main C<package> |
a0d0e21e |
1022 | |
6dbacca0 |
1023 | $a = "x"; print "$::a"; |
54310121 |
1024 | |
6dbacca0 |
1025 | # perl 4 prints: -:a |
1026 | # perl 5 prints: x |
5e378fdf |
1027 | |
6dbacca0 |
1028 | =item * Precedence |
a0d0e21e |
1029 | |
f4b17341 |
1030 | perl4 had buggy precedence for the file test operators vis-a-vis |
1031 | the assignment operators. Thus, although the precedence table |
1032 | for perl4 leads one to believe C<-e $foo .= "q"> should parse as |
1033 | C<((-e $foo) .= "q")>, it actually parses as C<(-e ($foo .= "q"))>. |
1034 | In perl5, the precedence is as documented. |
54310121 |
1035 | |
1036 | -e $foo .= "q" |
a0d0e21e |
1037 | |
6dbacca0 |
1038 | # perl4 prints: no output |
1039 | # perl5 prints: Can't modify -e in concatenation |
a0d0e21e |
1040 | |
f4b17341 |
1041 | =item * Precedence |
1042 | |
1043 | In perl4, keys(), each() and values() were special high-precedence operators |
1044 | that operated on a single hash, but in perl5, they are regular named unary |
1045 | operators. As documented, named unary operators have lower precedence |
1046 | than the arithmetic and concatenation operators C<+ - .>, but the perl4 |
1047 | variants of these operators actually bind tighter than C<+ - .>. |
1048 | Thus, for: |
1049 | |
1050 | %foo = 1..10; |
1051 | print keys %foo - 1 |
1052 | |
1053 | # perl4 prints: 4 |
1054 | # perl5 prints: Type of arg 1 to keys must be hash (not subtraction) |
1055 | |
1056 | The perl4 behavior was probably more useful, if less consistent. |
1057 | |
6dbacca0 |
1058 | =back |
1059 | |
1060 | =head2 General Regular Expression Traps using s///, etc. |
1061 | |
1062 | All types of RE traps. |
1063 | |
1064 | =over 5 |
1065 | |
1066 | =item * Regular Expression |
1067 | |
1068 | C<s'$lhs'$rhs'> now does no interpolation on either side. It used to |
19799a22 |
1069 | interpolate $lhs but not $rhs. (And still does not match a literal |
6dbacca0 |
1070 | '$' in string) |
1071 | |
1072 | $a=1;$b=2; |
1073 | $string = '1 2 $a $b'; |
1074 | $string =~ s'$a'$b'; |
1075 | print $string,"\n"; |
54310121 |
1076 | |
6dbacca0 |
1077 | # perl4 prints: $b 2 $a $b |
1078 | # perl5 prints: 1 2 $a $b |
1079 | |
1080 | =item * Regular Expression |
a0d0e21e |
1081 | |
1082 | C<m//g> now attaches its state to the searched string rather than the |
6dbacca0 |
1083 | regular expression. (Once the scope of a block is left for the sub, the |
1084 | state of the searched string is lost) |
1085 | |
1086 | $_ = "ababab"; |
1087 | while(m/ab/g){ |
1088 | &doit("blah"); |
1089 | } |
1090 | sub doit{local($_) = shift; print "Got $_ "} |
54310121 |
1091 | |
6dbacca0 |
1092 | # perl4 prints: blah blah blah |
1093 | # perl5 prints: infinite loop blah... |
1094 | |
1095 | =item * Regular Expression |
1096 | |
68dc0745 |
1097 | Currently, if you use the C<m//o> qualifier on a regular expression |
1098 | within an anonymous sub, I<all> closures generated from that anonymous |
1099 | sub will use the regular expression as it was compiled when it was used |
1100 | the very first time in any such closure. For instance, if you say |
1101 | |
1102 | sub build_match { |
1103 | my($left,$right) = @_; |
1104 | return sub { $_[0] =~ /$left stuff $right/o; }; |
1105 | } |
1106 | |
1107 | build_match() will always return a sub which matches the contents of |
19799a22 |
1108 | $left and $right as they were the I<first> time that build_match() |
68dc0745 |
1109 | was called, not as they are in the current call. |
1110 | |
1111 | This is probably a bug, and may change in future versions of Perl. |
1112 | |
1113 | =item * Regular Expression |
1114 | |
6dbacca0 |
1115 | If no parentheses are used in a match, Perl4 sets C<$+> to |
1116 | the whole match, just like C<$&>. Perl5 does not. |
1117 | |
1118 | "abcdef" =~ /b.*e/; |
1119 | print "\$+ = $+\n"; |
54310121 |
1120 | |
6dbacca0 |
1121 | # perl4 prints: bcde |
1122 | # perl5 prints: |
1123 | |
1124 | =item * Regular Expression |
1125 | |
1126 | substitution now returns the null string if it fails |
1127 | |
1128 | $string = "test"; |
1129 | $value = ($string =~ s/foo//); |
1130 | print $value, "\n"; |
54310121 |
1131 | |
6dbacca0 |
1132 | # perl4 prints: 0 |
1133 | # perl5 prints: |
1134 | |
1135 | Also see L<Numerical Traps> for another example of this new feature. |
1136 | |
1137 | =item * Regular Expression |
1138 | |
54310121 |
1139 | C<s`lhs`rhs`> (using backticks) is now a normal substitution, with no |
1140 | backtick expansion |
6dbacca0 |
1141 | |
1142 | $string = ""; |
1143 | $string =~ s`^`hostname`; |
1144 | print $string, "\n"; |
54310121 |
1145 | |
6dbacca0 |
1146 | # perl4 prints: <the local hostname> |
1147 | # perl5 prints: hostname |
1148 | |
1149 | =item * Regular Expression |
1150 | |
1151 | Stricter parsing of variables used in regular expressions |
1152 | |
1153 | s/^([^$grpc]*$grpc[$opt$plus$rep]?)//o; |
54310121 |
1154 | |
6dbacca0 |
1155 | # perl4: compiles w/o error |
1156 | # perl5: with Scalar found where operator expected ..., near "$opt$plus" |
1157 | |
1158 | an added component of this example, apparently from the same script, is |
1159 | the actual value of the s'd string after the substitution. |
1160 | C<[$opt]> is a character class in perl4 and an array subscript in perl5 |
1161 | |
54310121 |
1162 | $grpc = 'a'; |
6dbacca0 |
1163 | $opt = 'r'; |
1164 | $_ = 'bar'; |
1165 | s/^([^$grpc]*$grpc[$opt]?)/foo/; |
1166 | print ; |
54310121 |
1167 | |
6dbacca0 |
1168 | # perl4 prints: foo |
1169 | # perl5 prints: foobar |
1170 | |
1171 | =item * Regular Expression |
1172 | |
1173 | Under perl5, C<m?x?> matches only once, like C<?x?>. Under perl4, it matched |
1174 | repeatedly, like C</x/> or C<m!x!>. |
1175 | |
1176 | $test = "once"; |
1177 | sub match { $test =~ m?once?; } |
1178 | &match(); |
1179 | if( &match() ) { |
1180 | # m?x? matches more then once |
1181 | print "perl4\n"; |
54310121 |
1182 | } else { |
6dbacca0 |
1183 | # m?x? matches only once |
54310121 |
1184 | print "perl5\n"; |
6dbacca0 |
1185 | } |
54310121 |
1186 | |
6dbacca0 |
1187 | # perl4 prints: perl4 |
1188 | # perl5 prints: perl5 |
a0d0e21e |
1189 | |
a0d0e21e |
1190 | |
6dbacca0 |
1191 | =back |
1192 | |
1193 | =head2 Subroutine, Signal, Sorting Traps |
a0d0e21e |
1194 | |
6dbacca0 |
1195 | The general group of Perl4-to-Perl5 traps having to do with |
1196 | Signals, Sorting, and their related subroutines, as well as |
1197 | general subroutine traps. Includes some OS-Specific traps. |
a0d0e21e |
1198 | |
6dbacca0 |
1199 | =over 5 |
a0d0e21e |
1200 | |
6dbacca0 |
1201 | =item * (Signals) |
a0d0e21e |
1202 | |
6dbacca0 |
1203 | Barewords that used to look like strings to Perl will now look like subroutine |
1204 | calls if a subroutine by that name is defined before the compiler sees them. |
a0d0e21e |
1205 | |
6dbacca0 |
1206 | sub SeeYa { warn"Hasta la vista, baby!" } |
1207 | $SIG{'TERM'} = SeeYa; |
1208 | print "SIGTERM is now $SIG{'TERM'}\n"; |
54310121 |
1209 | |
6dbacca0 |
1210 | # perl4 prints: SIGTERM is main'SeeYa |
1211 | # perl5 prints: SIGTERM is now main::1 |
a0d0e21e |
1212 | |
6dbacca0 |
1213 | Use B<-w> to catch this one |
a0d0e21e |
1214 | |
6dbacca0 |
1215 | =item * (Sort Subroutine) |
a0d0e21e |
1216 | |
6dbacca0 |
1217 | reverse is no longer allowed as the name of a sort subroutine. |
a0d0e21e |
1218 | |
6dbacca0 |
1219 | sub reverse{ print "yup "; $a <=> $b } |
54310121 |
1220 | print sort reverse a,b,c; |
1221 | |
6dbacca0 |
1222 | # perl4 prints: yup yup yup yup abc |
54310121 |
1223 | # perl5 prints: abc |
a0d0e21e |
1224 | |
b996531f |
1225 | =item * warn() won't let you specify a filehandle. |
1226 | |
1227 | Although it _always_ printed to STDERR, warn() would let you specify a |
1228 | filehandle in perl4. With perl5 it does not. |
5e378fdf |
1229 | |
1230 | warn STDERR "Foo!"; |
1231 | |
1232 | # perl4 prints: Foo! |
54310121 |
1233 | # perl5 prints: String found where operator expected |
5e378fdf |
1234 | |
6dbacca0 |
1235 | =back |
a0d0e21e |
1236 | |
6dbacca0 |
1237 | =head2 OS Traps |
1238 | |
1239 | =over 5 |
1240 | |
1241 | =item * (SysV) |
1242 | |
54310121 |
1243 | Under HPUX, and some other SysV OSes, one had to reset any signal handler, |
1244 | within the signal handler function, each time a signal was handled with |
1245 | perl4. With perl5, the reset is now done correctly. Any code relying |
6dbacca0 |
1246 | on the handler _not_ being reset will have to be reworked. |
1247 | |
a6006777 |
1248 | Since version 5.002, Perl uses sigaction() under SysV. |
6dbacca0 |
1249 | |
1250 | sub gotit { |
54310121 |
1251 | print "Got @_... "; |
1252 | } |
6dbacca0 |
1253 | $SIG{'INT'} = 'gotit'; |
54310121 |
1254 | |
6dbacca0 |
1255 | $| = 1; |
1256 | $pid = fork; |
1257 | if ($pid) { |
1258 | kill('INT', $pid); |
1259 | sleep(1); |
1260 | kill('INT', $pid); |
54310121 |
1261 | } else { |
6dbacca0 |
1262 | while (1) {sleep(10);} |
54310121 |
1263 | } |
1264 | |
6dbacca0 |
1265 | # perl4 (HPUX) prints: Got INT... |
1266 | # perl5 (HPUX) prints: Got INT... Got INT... |
1267 | |
1268 | =item * (SysV) |
1269 | |
c47ff5f1 |
1270 | Under SysV OSes, C<seek()> on a file opened to append C<<< >> >>> now does |
54310121 |
1271 | the right thing w.r.t. the fopen() manpage. e.g., - When a file is opened |
6dbacca0 |
1272 | for append, it is impossible to overwrite information already in |
1273 | the file. |
1274 | |
1275 | open(TEST,">>seek.test"); |
54310121 |
1276 | $start = tell TEST ; |
6dbacca0 |
1277 | foreach(1 .. 9){ |
1278 | print TEST "$_ "; |
1279 | } |
1280 | $end = tell TEST ; |
1281 | seek(TEST,$start,0); |
1282 | print TEST "18 characters here"; |
54310121 |
1283 | |
6dbacca0 |
1284 | # perl4 (solaris) seek.test has: 18 characters here |
1285 | # perl5 (solaris) seek.test has: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 18 characters here |
a0d0e21e |
1286 | |
a0d0e21e |
1287 | |
a0d0e21e |
1288 | |
6dbacca0 |
1289 | =back |
a0d0e21e |
1290 | |
6dbacca0 |
1291 | =head2 Interpolation Traps |
a0d0e21e |
1292 | |
8b0a4b75 |
1293 | Perl4-to-Perl5 traps having to do with how things get interpolated |
1294 | within certain expressions, statements, contexts, or whatever. |
1295 | |
6dbacca0 |
1296 | =over 5 |
a0d0e21e |
1297 | |
6dbacca0 |
1298 | =item * Interpolation |
a0d0e21e |
1299 | |
6dbacca0 |
1300 | @ now always interpolates an array in double-quotish strings. |
1301 | |
54310121 |
1302 | print "To: someone@somewhere.com\n"; |
1303 | |
6dbacca0 |
1304 | # perl4 prints: To:someone@somewhere.com |
8593bda5 |
1305 | # perl < 5.6.1, error : In string, @somewhere now must be written as \@somewhere |
1306 | # perl >= 5.6.1, warning : Possible unintended interpolation of @somewhere in string |
6dbacca0 |
1307 | |
1308 | =item * Interpolation |
1309 | |
6dbacca0 |
1310 | Double-quoted strings may no longer end with an unescaped $ or @. |
1311 | |
1312 | $foo = "foo$"; |
1313 | $bar = "bar@"; |
1314 | print "foo is $foo, bar is $bar\n"; |
54310121 |
1315 | |
6dbacca0 |
1316 | # perl4 prints: foo is foo$, bar is bar@ |
1317 | # perl5 errors: Final $ should be \$ or $name |
1318 | |
1319 | Note: perl5 DOES NOT error on the terminating @ in $bar |
1320 | |
1321 | =item * Interpolation |
a0d0e21e |
1322 | |
8b0a4b75 |
1323 | Perl now sometimes evaluates arbitrary expressions inside braces that occur |
1324 | within double quotes (usually when the opening brace is preceded by C<$> |
1325 | or C<@>). |
1326 | |
1327 | @www = "buz"; |
1328 | $foo = "foo"; |
1329 | $bar = "bar"; |
1330 | sub foo { return "bar" }; |
1331 | print "|@{w.w.w}|${main'foo}|"; |
1332 | |
1333 | # perl4 prints: |@{w.w.w}|foo| |
1334 | # perl5 prints: |buz|bar| |
1335 | |
1336 | Note that you can C<use strict;> to ward off such trappiness under perl5. |
1337 | |
1338 | =item * Interpolation |
1339 | |
748a9306 |
1340 | The construct "this is $$x" used to interpolate the pid at that |
19799a22 |
1341 | point, but now apparently tries to dereference $x. C<$$> by itself still |
748a9306 |
1342 | works fine, however. |
1343 | |
6dbacca0 |
1344 | print "this is $$x\n"; |
748a9306 |
1345 | |
6dbacca0 |
1346 | # perl4 prints: this is XXXx (XXX is the current pid) |
1347 | # perl5 prints: this is |
1348 | |
1349 | =item * Interpolation |
1350 | |
54310121 |
1351 | Creation of hashes on the fly with C<eval "EXPR"> now requires either both |
1352 | C<$>'s to be protected in the specification of the hash name, or both curlies |
6dbacca0 |
1353 | to be protected. If both curlies are protected, the result will be compatible |
1354 | with perl4 and perl5. This is a very common practice, and should be changed |
1355 | to use the block form of C<eval{}> if possible. |
c07a80fd |
1356 | |
6dbacca0 |
1357 | $hashname = "foobar"; |
1358 | $key = "baz"; |
1359 | $value = 1234; |
1360 | eval "\$$hashname{'$key'} = q|$value|"; |
1361 | (defined($foobar{'baz'})) ? (print "Yup") : (print "Nope"); |
1362 | |
1363 | # perl4 prints: Yup |
1364 | # perl5 prints: Nope |
1365 | |
1366 | Changing |
1367 | |
1368 | eval "\$$hashname{'$key'} = q|$value|"; |
c07a80fd |
1369 | |
1370 | to |
1371 | |
6dbacca0 |
1372 | eval "\$\$hashname{'$key'} = q|$value|"; |
c07a80fd |
1373 | |
6dbacca0 |
1374 | causes the following result: |
c07a80fd |
1375 | |
6dbacca0 |
1376 | # perl4 prints: Nope |
1377 | # perl5 prints: Yup |
c07a80fd |
1378 | |
6dbacca0 |
1379 | or, changing to |
a0d0e21e |
1380 | |
6dbacca0 |
1381 | eval "\$$hashname\{'$key'\} = q|$value|"; |
1382 | |
1383 | causes the following result: |
1384 | |
1385 | # perl4 prints: Yup |
1386 | # perl5 prints: Yup |
1387 | # and is compatible for both versions |
1388 | |
1389 | |
1390 | =item * Interpolation |
1391 | |
1392 | perl4 programs which unconsciously rely on the bugs in earlier perl versions. |
1393 | |
1394 | perl -e '$bar=q/not/; print "This is $foo{$bar} perl5"' |
54310121 |
1395 | |
6dbacca0 |
1396 | # perl4 prints: This is not perl5 |
1397 | # perl5 prints: This is perl5 |
1398 | |
1399 | =item * Interpolation |
1400 | |
54310121 |
1401 | You also have to be careful about array references. |
6dbacca0 |
1402 | |
1403 | print "$foo{" |
1404 | |
1405 | perl 4 prints: { |
1406 | perl 5 prints: syntax error |
1407 | |
1408 | =item * Interpolation |
1409 | |
1410 | Similarly, watch out for: |
1411 | |
1412 | $foo = "array"; |
1413 | print "\$$foo{bar}\n"; |
54310121 |
1414 | |
6dbacca0 |
1415 | # perl4 prints: $array{bar} |
1416 | # perl5 prints: $ |
1417 | |
1418 | Perl 5 is looking for C<$array{bar}> which doesn't exist, but perl 4 is |
1419 | happy just to expand $foo to "array" by itself. Watch out for this |
1420 | especially in C<eval>'s. |
1421 | |
1422 | =item * Interpolation |
1423 | |
1424 | C<qq()> string passed to C<eval> |
1425 | |
1426 | eval qq( |
1427 | foreach \$y (keys %\$x\) { |
1428 | \$count++; |
1429 | } |
1430 | ); |
54310121 |
1431 | |
6dbacca0 |
1432 | # perl4 runs this ok |
54310121 |
1433 | # perl5 prints: Can't find string terminator ")" |
a0d0e21e |
1434 | |
6dbacca0 |
1435 | =back |
1436 | |
1437 | =head2 DBM Traps |
1438 | |
1439 | General DBM traps. |
1440 | |
1441 | =over 5 |
1442 | |
1443 | =item * DBM |
1444 | |
1445 | Existing dbm databases created under perl4 (or any other dbm/ndbm tool) |
1446 | may cause the same script, run under perl5, to fail. The build of perl5 |
1447 | must have been linked with the same dbm/ndbm as the default for C<dbmopen()> |
1448 | to function properly without C<tie>'ing to an extension dbm implementation. |
1449 | |
1450 | dbmopen (%dbm, "file", undef); |
1451 | print "ok\n"; |
1452 | |
1453 | # perl4 prints: ok |
1454 | # perl5 prints: ok (IFF linked with -ldbm or -lndbm) |
1455 | |
1456 | |
1457 | =item * DBM |
1458 | |
1459 | Existing dbm databases created under perl4 (or any other dbm/ndbm tool) |
1460 | may cause the same script, run under perl5, to fail. The error generated |
1461 | when exceeding the limit on the key/value size will cause perl5 to exit |
1462 | immediately. |
1463 | |
1464 | dbmopen(DB, "testdb",0600) || die "couldn't open db! $!"; |
1465 | $DB{'trap'} = "x" x 1024; # value too large for most dbm/ndbm |
1466 | print "YUP\n"; |
1467 | |
1468 | # perl4 prints: |
1469 | dbm store returned -1, errno 28, key "trap" at - line 3. |
1470 | YUP |
1471 | |
1472 | # perl5 prints: |
1473 | dbm store returned -1, errno 28, key "trap" at - line 3. |
a0d0e21e |
1474 | |
1475 | =back |
6dbacca0 |
1476 | |
1477 | =head2 Unclassified Traps |
1478 | |
1479 | Everything else. |
1480 | |
84dc3c4d |
1481 | =over 5 |
1482 | |
5db417f7 |
1483 | =item * C<require>/C<do> trap using returned value |
6dbacca0 |
1484 | |
1485 | If the file doit.pl has: |
1486 | |
1487 | sub foo { |
1488 | $rc = do "./do.pl"; |
1489 | return 8; |
54310121 |
1490 | } |
6dbacca0 |
1491 | print &foo, "\n"; |
1492 | |
1493 | And the do.pl file has the following single line: |
1494 | |
1495 | return 3; |
1496 | |
1497 | Running doit.pl gives the following: |
1498 | |
1499 | # perl 4 prints: 3 (aborts the subroutine early) |
54310121 |
1500 | # perl 5 prints: 8 |
6dbacca0 |
1501 | |
1502 | Same behavior if you replace C<do> with C<require>. |
1503 | |
5db417f7 |
1504 | =item * C<split> on empty string with LIMIT specified |
1505 | |
1506 | $string = ''; |
1507 | @list = split(/foo/, $string, 2) |
1508 | |
1509 | Perl4 returns a one element list containing the empty string but Perl5 |
1510 | returns an empty list. |
1511 | |
6dbacca0 |
1512 | =back |
1513 | |
54310121 |
1514 | As always, if any of these are ever officially declared as bugs, |
6dbacca0 |
1515 | they'll be fixed and removed. |
1516 | |