Perl is expecting a filehandle, an indirect filehandle may be used
instead. An indirect filehandle is just a scalar variable that contains
a filehandle. Functions like C<print>, C<open>, C<seek>, or
-the C<E<lt>FHE<gt>> diamond operator will accept either a read filehandle
+the C<< <FH> >> diamond operator will accept either a read filehandle
or a scalar variable containing one:
($ifh, $ofh, $efh) = (*STDIN, *STDOUT, *STDERR);
real operator, not just a function with a comma-less argument. Assuming
you've been storing typeglobs in your structure as we did above, you
can use the built-in function named C<readline> to reads a record just
-as C<E<lt>E<gt>> does. Given the initialization shown above for @fd, this
+as C<< <> >> does. Given the initialization shown above for @fd, this
would work, but only because readline() require a typeglob. It doesn't
work with objects or strings, which might be a bug we haven't fixed yet.
=head2 How can I translate tildes (~) in a filename?
-Use the E<lt>E<gt> (glob()) operator, documented in L<perlfunc>. This
+Use the <> (glob()) operator, documented in L<perlfunc>. This
requires that you have a shell installed that groks tildes, meaning
csh or tcsh or (some versions of) ksh, and thus may have portability
problems. The Glob::KGlob module (available from CPAN) gives more
open(FH, "+< /path/name"); # open for update
-Using "E<gt>" always clobbers or creates. Using "E<lt>" never does
+Using ">" always clobbers or creates. Using "<" never does
either. The "+" doesn't change this.
Here are examples of many kinds of file opens. Those using sysopen()
See also the new L<perlopentut> if you have it (new for 5.6).
-=head2 Why do I sometimes get an "Argument list too long" when I use E<lt>*E<gt>?
+=head2 Why do I sometimes get an "Argument list too long" when I use <*>?
-The C<E<lt>E<gt>> operator performs a globbing operation (see above).
+The C<< <> >> operator performs a globbing operation (see above).
In Perl versions earlier than v5.6.0, the internal glob() operator forks
csh(1) to do the actual glob expansion, but
csh can't handle more than 127 items and so gives the error message
context, you may cause a leak and/or unpredictable behavior. It's
best therefore to use glob() only in list context.
-=head2 How can I open a file with a leading "E<gt>" or trailing blanks?
+=head2 How can I open a file with a leading ">" or trailing blanks?
Normally perl ignores trailing blanks in filenames, and interprets
certain leading characters (or a trailing "|") to mean something
$fd = $ENV{MHCONTEXTFD};
open(MHCONTEXT, "<&=$fd"); # like fdopen(3S)
-Note that "E<lt>&STDIN" makes a copy, but "E<lt>&=STDIN" make
+Note that "<&STDIN" makes a copy, but "<&=STDIN" make
an alias. That means if you close an aliased handle, all
aliases become inaccessible. This is not true with
a copied one.