delete $ref->[$x][$y][$index];
delete @{$ref->[$x][$y]}[$index1, $index2, @moreindices];
+The C<delete local EXPR> construct can also be used to localize the deletion
+of array/hash elements to the current block.
+See L<perlsub/"Localized deletion of elements of composite types">.
+
=item die LIST
X<die> X<throw> X<exception> X<raise> X<$@> X<abort>
alive (even if only as a zombie) and hasn't changed its UID. See
L<perlport> for notes on the portability of this construct.
-Unlike in the shell, if SIGNAL is negative, it kills
-process groups instead of processes. (On System V, a negative I<PROCESS>
-number will also kill process groups, but that's not portable.) That
-means you usually want to use positive not negative signals. You may also
-use a signal name in quotes.
+Unlike in the shell, if SIGNAL is negative, it kills process groups instead
+of processes. That means you usually want to use positive not negative signals.
+You may also use a signal name in quotes.
+
+The behavior of kill when a I<PROCESS> number is zero or negative depends on
+the operating system. For example, on POSIX-conforming systems, zero will
+signal the current process group and -1 will signal all processes.
See L<perlipc/"Signals"> for more details.
be placed in parentheses. See L<perlsub/"Temporary Values via local()">
for details, including issues with tied arrays and hashes.
+The C<delete local EXPR> construct can also be used to localize the deletion
+of array/hash elements to the current block.
+See L<perlsub/"Localized deletion of elements of composite types">.
+
=item localtime EXPR
X<localtime> X<ctime>
default, empty leading fields are preserved, and empty trailing ones are
deleted. (If all fields are empty, they are considered to be trailing.)
-In scalar context, returns the number of fields found and splits into
-the C<@_> array. Use of split in scalar context is deprecated, however,
-because it clobbers your subroutine arguments.
+In scalar context, returns the number of fields found. In scalar and void
+context it splits into the C<@_> array. Use of split in scalar and void
+context is deprecated, however, because it clobbers your subroutine
+arguments.
If EXPR is omitted, splits the C<$_> string. If PATTERN is also omitted,
splits on whitespace (after skipping any leading whitespace). Anything
indicates a failure to start the program or an error of the wait(2) system
call (inspect $! for the reason).
+If you'd like to make C<system> (and many other bits of Perl) die on error,
+have a look at the L<autodie> pragma.
+
Like C<exec>, C<system> allows you to lie to a program about its name if
you use the C<system PROGRAM LIST> syntax. Again, see L</exec>.
system(@args) == 0
or die "system @args failed: $?"
-You can check all the failure possibilities by inspecting
-C<$?> like this:
+If you'd like to manually inspect C<system>'s failure, you can check all
+possible failure modes by inspecting C<$?> like this:
if ($? == -1) {
print "failed to execute: $!\n";
C<use VERSION> will also load the C<feature> pragma and enable all
features available in the requested version. See L<feature>.
Similarly, if the specified perl version is greater than or equal to
-5.11.0, strictures are enabled lexically as with C<use strict;>.
+5.11.0, strictures are enabled lexically as with C<use strict> (except
+that the F<strict.pm> file is not actually loaded).
The C<BEGIN> forces the C<require> and C<import> to happen at compile time. The
C<require> makes sure the module is loaded into memory if it hasn't been