+
=head1 NAME
perlfunc - Perl builtin functions
=item Functions for SCALARs or strings
-chomp, chop, chr, crypt, hex, index, lc, lcfirst, length,
-oct, ord, pack, q/STRING/, qq/STRING/, reverse, rindex,
-sprintf, substr, tr///, uc, ucfirst, y///
+C<chomp>, C<chop>, C<chr>, C<crypt>, C<hex>, C<index>, C<lc>, C<lcfirst>,
+C<length>, C<oct>, C<ord>, C<pack>, C<q>/STRING/, C<qq>/STRING/, C<reverse>,
+C<rindex>, C<sprintf>, C<substr>, C<tr///>, C<uc>, C<ucfirst>, C<y>///
=item Regular expressions and pattern matching
-m//, pos, quotemeta, s///, split, study
+C<m>//, C<pos>, C<quotemeta>, C<s>///, C<split>, C<study>
=item Numeric functions
-abs, atan2, cos, exp, hex, int, log, oct, rand, sin, sqrt,
-srand
+C<abs>, C<atan2>, C<cos>, C<exp>, C<hex>, C<int>, C<log>, C<oct>, C<rand>,
+C<sin>, C<sqrt>, C<srand>
=item Functions for real @ARRAYs
-pop, push, shift, splice, unshift
+C<pop>, C<push>, C<shift>, C<splice>, C<unshift>
=item Functions for list data
-grep, join, map, qw/STRING/, reverse, sort, unpack
+C<grep>, C<join>, C<map>, C<qw>/STRING/, C<reverse>, C<sort>, C<unpack>
=item Functions for real %HASHes
-delete, each, exists, keys, values
+C<delete>, C<each>, C<exists>, C<keys>, C<values>
=item Input and output functions
-binmode, close, closedir, dbmclose, dbmopen, die, eof,
-fileno, flock, format, getc, print, printf, read, readdir,
-rewinddir, seek, seekdir, select, syscall, sysread, sysseek,
-syswrite, tell, telldir, truncate, warn, write
+C<binmode>, C<close>, C<closedir>, C<dbmclose>, C<dbmopen>, C<die>, C<eof>,
+C<fileno>, C<flock>, C<format>, C<getc>, C<print>, C<printf>, C<read>,
+C<readdir>, C<rewinddir>, C<seek>, C<seekdir>, C<select>, C<syscall>,
+C<sysread>, C<sysseek>, C<syswrite>, C<tell>, C<telldir>, C<truncate>,
+C<warn>, C<write>
=item Functions for fixed length data or records
-pack, read, syscall, sysread, syswrite, unpack, vec
+C<pack>, C<read>, C<syscall>, C<sysread>, C<syswrite>, C<unpack>, C<vec>
=item Functions for filehandles, files, or directories
-I<-X>, chdir, chmod, chown, chroot, fcntl, glob, ioctl, link,
-lstat, mkdir, open, opendir, readlink, rename, rmdir,
-stat, symlink, umask, unlink, utime
+C<-I<X>>, C<chdir>, C<chmod>, C<chown>, C<chroot>, C<fcntl>, C<glob>,
+C<ioctl>, C<link>, C<lstat>, C<mkdir>, C<open>, C<opendir>, C<readlink>,
+C<rename>, C<rmdir>, C<stat>, C<symlink>, C<umask>, C<unlink>, C<utime>
=item Keywords related to the control flow of your perl program
-caller, continue, die, do, dump, eval, exit, goto, last,
-next, redo, return, sub, wantarray
+C<caller>, C<continue>, C<die>, C<do>, C<dump>, C<eval>, C<exit>,
+C<goto>, C<last>, C<next>, C<redo>, C<return>, C<sub>, C<wantarray>
=item Keywords related to scoping
-caller, import, local, my, package, use
+C<caller>, C<import>, C<local>, C<my>, C<package>, C<use>
=item Miscellaneous functions
-defined, dump, eval, formline, local, my, reset, scalar,
-undef, wantarray
+C<defined>, C<dump>, C<eval>, C<formline>, C<local>, C<my>, C<reset>,
+C<scalar>, C<undef>, C<wantarray>
=item Functions for processes and process groups
-alarm, exec, fork, getpgrp, getppid, getpriority, kill,
-pipe, qx/STRING/, setpgrp, setpriority, sleep, system,
-times, wait, waitpid
+C<alarm>, C<exec>, C<fork>, C<getpgrp>, C<getppid>, C<getpriority>, C<kill>,
+C<pipe>, C<qx>/STRING/, C<setpgrp>, C<setpriority>, C<sleep>, C<system>,
+C<times>, C<wait>, C<waitpid>
=item Keywords related to perl modules
-do, import, no, package, require, use
+C<do>, C<import>, C<no>, C<package>, C<require>, C<use>
=item Keywords related to classes and object-orientedness
-bless, dbmclose, dbmopen, package, ref, tie, tied, untie, use
+C<bless>, C<dbmclose>, C<dbmopen>, C<package>, C<ref>, C<tie>, C<tied>,
+C<untie>, C<use>
=item Low-level socket functions
-accept, bind, connect, getpeername, getsockname,
-getsockopt, listen, recv, send, setsockopt, shutdown,
-socket, socketpair
+C<accept>, C<bind>, C<connect>, C<getpeername>, C<getsockname>,
+C<getsockopt>, C<listen>, C<recv>, C<send>, C<setsockopt>, C<shutdown>,
+C<socket>, C<socketpair>
=item System V interprocess communication functions
-msgctl, msgget, msgrcv, msgsnd, semctl, semget, semop,
-shmctl, shmget, shmread, shmwrite
+C<msgctl>, C<msgget>, C<msgrcv>, C<msgsnd>, C<semctl>, C<semget>, C<semop>,
+C<shmctl>, C<shmget>, C<shmread>, C<shmwrite>
=item Fetching user and group info
-endgrent, endhostent, endnetent, endpwent, getgrent,
-getgrgid, getgrnam, getlogin, getpwent, getpwnam,
-getpwuid, setgrent, setpwent
+C<endgrent>, C<endhostent>, C<endnetent>, C<endpwent>, C<getgrent>,
+C<getgrgid>, C<getgrnam>, C<getlogin>, C<getpwent>, C<getpwnam>,
+C<getpwuid>, C<setgrent>, C<setpwent>
=item Fetching network info
-endprotoent, endservent, gethostbyaddr, gethostbyname,
-gethostent, getnetbyaddr, getnetbyname, getnetent,
-getprotobyname, getprotobynumber, getprotoent,
-getservbyname, getservbyport, getservent, sethostent,
-setnetent, setprotoent, setservent
+C<endprotoent>, C<endservent>, C<gethostbyaddr>, C<gethostbyname>,
+C<gethostent>, C<getnetbyaddr>, C<getnetbyname>, C<getnetent>,
+C<getprotobyname>, C<getprotobynumber>, C<getprotoent>,
+C<getservbyname>, C<getservbyport>, C<getservent>, C<sethostent>,
+C<setnetent>, C<setprotoent>, C<setservent>
=item Time-related functions
-gmtime, localtime, time, times
+C<gmtime>, C<localtime>, C<time>, C<times>
=item Functions new in perl5
-abs, bless, chomp, chr, exists, formline, glob, import, lc,
-lcfirst, map, my, no, prototype, qx, qw, readline, readpipe,
-ref, sub*, sysopen, tie, tied, uc, ucfirst, untie, use
+C<abs>, C<bless>, C<chomp>, C<chr>, C<exists>, C<formline>, C<glob>,
+C<import>, C<lc>, C<lcfirst>, C<map>, C<my>, C<no>, C<prototype>, C<qx>,
+C<qw>, C<readline>, C<readpipe>, C<ref>, C<sub*>, C<sysopen>, C<tie>,
+C<tied>, C<uc>, C<ucfirst>, C<untie>, C<use>
* - C<sub> was a keyword in perl4, but in perl5 it is an
operator which can be used in expressions.
=item Functions obsoleted in perl5
-dbmclose, dbmopen
+C<dbmclose>, C<dbmopen>
=back
=over 8
-=item -X FILEHANDLE
+=item I<-X> FILEHANDLE
-=item -X EXPR
+=item I<-X> EXPR
-=item -X
+=item I<-X>
A file test, where X is one of the letters listed below. This unary
operator takes one argument, either a filename or a filehandle, and
=item chomp
-This is a slightly safer version of chop (see below). It removes any
+This is a slightly safer version of L</chop>. It removes any
line ending that corresponds to the current value of C<$/> (also known as
$INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR in the C<English> module). It returns the total
number of characters removed from all its arguments. It's often used to
Closes the file or pipe associated with the file handle, returning TRUE
only if stdio successfully flushes buffers and closes the system file
-descriptor. You don't have to close FILEHANDLE if you are immediately
-going to do another open() on it, because open() will close it for you. (See
+descriptor.
+
+You don't have to close FILEHANDLE if you are immediately going to do
+another open() on it, because open() will close it for you. (See
open().) However, an explicit close on an input file resets the line
-counter ($.), while the implicit close done by open() does not. Also,
-closing a pipe will wait for the process executing on the pipe to
-complete, in case you want to look at the output of the pipe
-afterwards. Closing a pipe explicitly also puts the status value of
-the command into C<$?>. Example:
+counter ($.), while the implicit close done by open() does not.
+
+If the file handle came from a piped open C<close> will additionally
+return FALSE if one of the other system calls involved fails or if the
+program exits with non-zero status. (If the only problem was that the
+program exited non-zero $! will be set to 0.) Also, closing a pipe will
+wait for the process executing on the pipe to complete, in case you
+want to look at the output of the pipe afterwards. Closing a pipe
+explicitly also puts the exit status value of the command into C<$?>.
+Example:
- open(OUTPUT, '|sort >foo'); # pipe to sort
+ open(OUTPUT, '|sort >foo') # pipe to sort
+ or die "Can't start sort: $!";
... # print stuff to output
- close OUTPUT; # wait for sort to finish
- open(INPUT, 'foo'); # get sort's results
+ close OUTPUT # wait for sort to finish
+ or warn $! ? "Error closing sort pipe: $!"
+ : "Exit status $? from sort";
+ open(INPUT, 'foo') # get sort's results
+ or die "Can't open 'foo' for input: $!";
FILEHANDLE may be an expression whose value gives the real filehandle name.
print "ok\n";
}
-Of course, typing in your own password to whomever asks you
+Of course, typing in your own password to whoever asks you
for it is unwise.
=item dbmclose HASH
See also exit() and warn().
+If LIST is empty and $@ already contains a value (typically from a
+previous eval) that value is reused after appending "\t...propagated".
+This is useful for propagating exceptions:
+
+ eval { ... };
+ die unless $@ =~ /Expected exception/;
+
+If $@ is empty then the string "Died" is used.
+
You can arrange for a callback to be called just before the die() does
its deed, by setting the C<$SIG{__DIE__}> hook. The associated handler
will be called with the error text and can change the error message, if
-it sees fit, by calling die() again. See L<perlvar> for details on
-setting C<%SIG> entries, and eval() for some examples.
+it sees fit, by calling die() again. See L<perlvar/$SIG{expr}> for details on
+setting C<%SIG> entries, and L<"eval BLOCK"> for some examples.
+
+Note that the C<$SIG{__DIE__}> hook is called even inside eval()ed
+blocks/strings. If one wants the hook to do nothing in such
+situations, put
+
+ die @_ if $^S;
+
+as the first line of the handler (see L<perlvar/$^S>).
=item do BLOCK
is just like
- eval `cat stat.pl`;
+ scalar eval `cat stat.pl`;
except that it's more efficient, more concise, keeps track of the
current filename for error messages, and searches all the B<-I>
=item eval BLOCK
-EXPR is parsed and executed as if it were a little Perl program. It
-is executed in the context of the current Perl program, so that any
+In the first form, the return value of EXPR is parsed and executed as if it
+were a little Perl program. The value of the expression (which is itself
+determined within a scalar context) is first parsed, and if there are no
+errors, executed in the context of the current Perl program, so that any
variable settings or subroutine and format definitions remain afterwards.
-The value returned is the value of the last expression evaluated, or a
-return statement may be used, just as with subroutines. The last
-expression is evaluated in scalar or array context, depending on the
-context of the eval.
+Note that the value is parsed every time the eval executes. If EXPR is
+omitted, evaluates C<$_>. This form is typically used to delay parsing
+and subsequent execution of the text of EXPR until run time.
+
+In the second form, the code within the BLOCK is parsed only once--at the
+same time the code surrounding the eval itself was parsed--and executed
+within the context of the current Perl program. This form is typically
+used to trap exceptions more efficiently than the first (see below), while
+also providing the benefit of checking the code within BLOCK at compile
+time.
+
+The final semicolon, if any, may be omitted from the value of EXPR or within
+the BLOCK.
+
+In both forms, the value returned is the value of the last expression
+evaluated inside the mini-program, or a return statement may be used, just
+as with subroutines. The expression providing the return value is evaluated
+in void, scalar or array context, depending on the context of the eval itself.
+See L</wantarray> for more on how the evaluation context can be determined.
If there is a syntax error or runtime error, or a die() statement is
executed, an undefined value is returned by eval(), and C<$@> is set to the
error message. If there was no error, C<$@> is guaranteed to be a null
-string. If EXPR is omitted, evaluates C<$_>. The final semicolon, if
-any, may be omitted from the expression. Beware that using eval()
-neither silences perl from printing warnings to STDERR, nor does it
-stuff the text of warning messages into C<$@>. To do either of those,
-you have to use the C<$SIG{__WARN__}> facility. See warn() and L<perlvar>.
+string. Beware that using eval() neither silences perl from printing
+warnings to STDERR, nor does it stuff the text of warning messages into C<$@>.
+To do either of those, you have to use the C<$SIG{__WARN__}> facility. See
+L</warn> and L<perlvar>.
Note that, because eval() traps otherwise-fatal errors, it is useful for
determining whether a particular feature (such as socket() or symlink())
# __DIE__ hooks may modify error messages
{
local $SIG{'__DIE__'} = sub { (my $x = $_[0]) =~ s/foo/bar/g; die $x };
- eval { die "foo foofs here" };
- print $@ if $@; # prints "bar barfs here"
+ eval { die "foo lives here" };
+ print $@ if $@; # prints "bar lives here"
}
With an eval(), you should be especially careful to remember what's
=item exec LIST
-The exec() function executes a system command I<AND NEVER RETURNS>,
-unless the command does not exist and is executed directly instead of
-via C</bin/sh -c> (see below). Use system() instead of exec() if you
-want it to return.
+The exec() function executes a system command I<AND NEVER RETURNS> -
+use system() instead of exec() if you want it to return. It fails and
+returns FALSE only if the command does not exist I<and> it is executed
+directly instead of via your system's command shell (see below).
If there is more than one argument in LIST, or if LIST is an array with
more than one value, calls execvp(3) with the arguments in LIST. If
there is only one scalar argument, the argument is checked for shell
-metacharacters. If there are any, the entire argument is passed to
-C</bin/sh -c> for parsing. If there are none, the argument is split
-into words and passed directly to execvp(), which is more efficient.
-Note: exec() and system() do not flush your output buffer, so you may
-need to set C<$|> to avoid lost output. Examples:
+metacharacters, and if there are any, the entire argument is passed to
+the system's command shell for parsing (this is C</bin/sh -c> on Unix
+platforms, but varies on other platforms). If there are no shell
+metacharacters in the argument, it is split into words and passed
+directly to execvp(), which is more efficient. Note: exec() and
+system() do not flush your output buffer, so you may need to set C<$|>
+to avoid lost output. Examples:
exec '/bin/echo', 'Your arguments are: ', @ARGV;
exec "sort $outfile | uniq";
exec {'/bin/csh'} '-sh'; # pretend it's a login shell
+When the arguments get executed via the system shell, results will
+be subject to its quirks and capabilities. See L<perlop/"`STRING`">
+for details.
+
=item exists EXPR
Returns TRUE if the specified hash key exists in its hash array, even
$name = getgrent
etc.
+In I<getpw*()> the fields $quota, $comment, and $expire are special
+cases in the sense that in many systems they are unsupported. If the
+$quota is unsupported, it is an empty scalar. If it is supported, it
+usually encodes the disk quota. If the $comment field is unsupported,
+it is an empty scalar. If it is supported it usually encodes some
+administrative comment about the user. In some systems the $quota
+field may be $change or $age, fields that have to do with password
+aging. In some systems the $comment field may be $class. The $expire
+field, if present, encodes the expiration period of the account or the
+password. For the availability and the exact meaning of these fields
+in your system, please consult your getpwnam(3) documentation and your
+<pwd.h> file. You can also find out from within Perl which meaning
+your $quota and $comment fields have and whether you have the $expire
+field by using the Config module and the values d_pwquota, d_pwage,
+d_pwchange, d_pwcomment, and d_pwexpire.
+
The $members value returned by I<getgr*()> is a space separated list of
the login names of the members of the group.
array. Similarly, grep returns aliases into the original list,
much like the way that L<Foreach Loops>'s index variable aliases the list
elements. That is, modifying an element of a list returned by grep
+(for example, in a C<foreach>, C<map> or another C<grep>)
actually modifies the element in the original list.
+See also L</map> for an array composed of the results of the BLOCK or EXPR.
+
=item hex EXPR
=item hex
A local modifies the listed variables to be local to the enclosing block,
subroutine, C<eval{}>, or C<do>. If more than one value is listed, the
list must be placed in parentheses. See L<perlsub/"Temporary Values via
-local()"> for details.
+local()"> for details, including issues with tied arrays and hashes.
But you really probably want to be using my() instead, because local() isn't
what most people think of as "local"). See L<perlsub/"Private Variables
$now_string = localtime; # e.g., "Thu Oct 13 04:54:34 1994"
+This scalar value is B<not> locale dependent, see L<perllocale>,
+but instead a Perl builtin.
Also see the Time::Local module, and the strftime(3) and mktime(3)
function available via the POSIX module.
$hash{getkey($_)} = $_;
}
+Note that, because $_ is a reference into the list value, it can be used
+to modify the elements of the array. While this is useful and
+supported, it can cause bizarre results if the LIST is not a named
+array. See also L</grep> for an array composed of those items of the
+original list for which the BLOCK or EXPR evaluates to true.
+
=item mkdir FILENAME,MODE
Creates the directory specified by FILENAME, with permissions specified
Plan9 that delimit lines with a single character, and that encode that
character in C as '\n', do not need C<binmode>. The rest need it.
+When opening a file, it's usually a bad idea to continue normal execution
+if the request failed, so C<open> is frequently used in connection with
+C<die>. Even if C<die> won't do what you want (say, in a CGI script,
+where you want to make a nicely formatted error message (but there are
+modules which can help with that problem)) you should always check
+the return value from opening a file. The infrequent exception is when
+working with an unopened filehandle is actually what you want to do.
+
Examples:
$ARTICLE = 100;
while (<ARTICLE>) {...
open(LOG, '>>/usr/spool/news/twitlog'); # (log is reserved)
+ # if the open fails, output is discarded
- open(DBASE, '+<dbase.mine'); # open for update
+ open(DBASE, '+<dbase.mine') # open for update
+ or die "Can't open 'dbase.mine' for update: $!";
- open(ARTICLE, "caesar <$article |"); # decrypt article
+ open(ARTICLE, "caesar <$article |") # decrypt article
+ or die "Can't start caesar: $!";
- open(EXTRACT, "|sort >/tmp/Tmp$$"); # $$ is our process id
+ open(EXTRACT, "|sort >/tmp/Tmp$$") # $$ is our process id
+ or die "Can't start sort: $!";
# process argument list of files along with any includes
See L<perlipc/"Safe Pipe Opens"> for more examples of this.
-Explicitly closing any piped filehandle causes the parent process to
-wait for the child to finish, and returns the status value in C<$?>.
-Note: on any operation which may do a fork, unflushed buffers remain
+NOTE: On any operation which may do a fork, unflushed buffers remain
unflushed in both processes, which means you may need to set C<$|> to
avoid duplicate output.
+Closing any piped filehandle causes the parent process to wait for the
+child to finish, and returns the status value in C<$?>.
+
Using the constructor from the IO::Handle package (or one of its
subclasses, such as IO::File or IO::Socket),
you can generate anonymous filehandles which have the scope of whatever
padding with nulls or spaces as necessary. (When unpacking, "A" strips
trailing spaces and nulls, but "a" does not.) Likewise, the "b" and "B"
fields pack a string that many bits long. The "h" and "H" fields pack a
-string that many nybbles long. The "P" packs a pointer to a structure of
-the size indicated by the length. Real numbers (floats and doubles) are
+string that many nybbles long. The "p" type packs a pointer to a null-
+terminated string. You are responsible for ensuring the string is not a
+temporary value (which can potentially get deallocated before you get
+around to using the packed result). The "P" packs a pointer to a structure
+of the size indicated by the length. A NULL pointer is created if the
+corresponding value for "p" or "P" is C<undef>.
+Real numbers (floats and doubles) are
in the native machine format only; due to the multiplicity of floating
formats around, and the lack of a standard "network" representation, no
facility for interchange has been made. This means that packed floating
function has no prototype). FUNCTION is a reference to, or the name of,
the function whose prototype you want to retrieve.
+If FUNCTION is a string starting with C<CORE::>, the rest is taken as
+a name for Perl builtin. If builtin is not I<overridable> (such as
+C<qw>) or its arguments cannot be expressed by a prototype (such as
+C<system>) - in other words, the builtin does not behave like a Perl
+function - returns C<undef>. Otherwise, the string describing the
+equivalent prototype is returned.
+
=item push ARRAY,LIST
Treats ARRAY as a stack, and pushes the values of LIST
=item rand
-Returns a random fractional number between 0 and the value of EXPR.
-(EXPR should be positive.) If EXPR is omitted, returns a value between
-0 and 1. Automatically calls srand() unless srand() has already been
-called. See also srand().
+Returns a random fractional number greater than or equal to 0 and less
+than the value of EXPR. (EXPR should be positive.) If EXPR is
+omitted, the value 1 is used. Automatically calls srand() unless
+srand() has already been called. See also srand().
(Note: If your rand function consistently returns numbers that are too
large or too small, then your version of Perl was probably compiled
@dots = grep { /^\./ && -f "$some_dir/$_" } readdir(DIR);
closedir DIR;
+=item readline EXPR
+
+Reads from the file handle EXPR. In scalar context, a single line
+is read and returned. In list context, reads until end-of-file is
+reached and returns a list of lines (however you've defined lines
+with $/ or $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR).
+This is the internal function implementing the C<E<lt>EXPRE<gt>>
+operator, but you can use it directly. The C<E<lt>EXPRE<gt>>
+operator is discussed in more detail in L<perlop/"I/O Operators">.
+
=item readlink EXPR
=item readlink
error, returns the undefined value and sets C<$!> (errno). If EXPR is
omitted, uses $_.
+=item readpipe EXPR
+
+EXPR is interpolated and then executed as a system command.
+The collected standard output of the command is returned.
+In scalar context, it comes back as a single (potentially
+multi-line) string. In list context, returns a list of lines
+(however you've defined lines with $/ or $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR).
+This is the internal function implementing the C<qx/EXPR/>
+operator, but you can use it directly. The C<qx/EXPR/>
+operator is discussed in more detail in L<perlop/"I/O Operators">.
+
=item recv SOCKET,SCALAR,LEN,FLAGS
Receives a message on a socket. Attempts to receive LENGTH bytes of
Shifts the first value of the array off and returns it, shortening the
array by 1 and moving everything down. If there are no elements in the
array, returns the undefined value. If ARRAY is omitted, shifts the
-@ARGV array in the main program, and the @_ array in subroutines.
-(This is determined lexically.) See also unshift(), push(), and pop().
-Shift() and unshift() do the same thing to the left end of an array
-that pop() and push() do to the right end.
+@_ array within the lexical scope of subroutines and formats, and the
+@ARGV array at file scopes or within the lexical scopes established by
+the C<eval ''>, C<BEGIN {}>, C<END {}>, and C<INIT {}> constructs.
+See also unshift(), push(), and pop(). Shift() and unshift() do the
+same thing to the left end of an array that pop() and push() do to the
+right end.
=item shmctl ID,CMD,ARG
If EXPR is omitted, splits the $_ string. If PATTERN is also omitted,
splits on whitespace (after skipping any leading whitespace). Anything
matching PATTERN is taken to be a delimiter separating the fields. (Note
-that the delimiter may be longer than one character.) If LIMIT is
-specified and is not negative, splits into no more than that many fields
-(though it may split into fewer). If LIMIT is unspecified, trailing null
-fields are stripped (which potential users of pop() would do well to
-remember). If LIMIT is negative, it is treated as if an arbitrarily large
-LIMIT had been specified.
+that the delimiter may be longer than one character.)
+
+If LIMIT is specified and is not negative, splits into no more than
+that many fields (though it may split into fewer). If LIMIT is
+unspecified, trailing null fields are stripped (which potential users
+of pop() would do well to remember). If LIMIT is negative, it is
+treated as if an arbitrarily large LIMIT had been specified.
A pattern matching the null string (not to be confused with
a null pattern C<//>, which is just one member of the set of patterns
you could split it up into fields and their values this way:
$header =~ s/\n\s+/ /g; # fix continuation lines
- %hdrs = (UNIX_FROM => split /^(.*?):\s*/m, $header);
+ %hdrs = (UNIX_FROM => split /^(\S*?):\s*/m, $header);
The pattern C</PATTERN/> may be replaced with an expression to specify
patterns that vary at runtime. (To do runtime compilation only once,
=item sprintf FORMAT, LIST
-Returns a string formatted by the usual printf conventions of the C
-language. See L<sprintf(3)> or L<printf(3)> on your system for details.
-(The * character for an indirectly specified length is not
-supported, but you can get the same effect by interpolating a variable
-into the pattern.) If C<use locale> is
-in effect, the character used for the decimal point in formatted real numbers
-is affected by the LC_NUMERIC locale. See L<perllocale>.
-Some C libraries' implementations of sprintf() can
-dump core when fed ludicrous arguments.
+Returns a string formatted by the usual printf conventions of the
+C library function sprintf(). See L<sprintf(3)> or L<printf(3)>
+on your system for an explanation of the general principles.
+
+Perl does all of its own sprintf() formatting -- it emulates the C
+function sprintf(), but it doesn't use it (except for floating-point
+numbers, and even then only the standard modifiers are allowed). As a
+result, any non-standard extensions in your local sprintf() are not
+available from Perl.
+
+Perl's sprintf() permits the following universally-known conversions:
+
+ %% a percent sign
+ %c a character with the given number
+ %s a string
+ %d a signed integer, in decimal
+ %u an unsigned integer, in decimal
+ %o an unsigned integer, in octal
+ %x an unsigned integer, in hexadecimal
+ %e a floating-point number, in scientific notation
+ %f a floating-point number, in fixed decimal notation
+ %g a floating-point number, in %e or %f notation
+
+In addition, Perl permits the following widely-supported conversions:
+
+ %X like %x, but using upper-case letters
+ %E like %e, but using an upper-case "E"
+ %G like %g, but with an upper-case "E" (if applicable)
+ %p a pointer (outputs the Perl value's address in hexadecimal)
+ %n special: *stores* the number of characters output so far
+ into the next variable in the parameter list
+
+Finally, for backward (and we do mean "backward") compatibility, Perl
+permits these unnecessary but widely-supported conversions:
+
+ %i a synonym for %d
+ %D a synonym for %ld
+ %U a synonym for %lu
+ %O a synonym for %lo
+ %F a synonym for %f
+
+Perl permits the following universally-known flags between the C<%>
+and the conversion letter:
+
+ space prefix positive number with a space
+ + prefix positive number with a plus sign
+ - left-justify within the field
+ 0 use zeros, not spaces, to right-justify
+ # prefix octal with "0", hex with "0x"
+ number minimum field width
+ .number "precision": digits after decimal point for floating-point,
+ max length for string, minimum length for integer
+ l interpret integer as C type "long" or "unsigned long"
+ h interpret integer as C type "short" or "unsigned short"
+
+There is also one Perl-specific flag:
+
+ V interpret integer as Perl's standard integer type
+
+Where a number would appear in the flags, an asterisk ("*") may be
+used instead, in which case Perl uses the next item in the parameter
+list as the given number (that is, as the field width or precision).
+If a field width obtained through "*" is negative, it has the same
+effect as the '-' flag: left-justification.
+
+If C<use locale> is in effect, the character used for the decimal
+point in formatted real numbers is affected by the LC_NUMERIC locale.
+See L<perllocale>.
=item sqrt EXPR
Extracts a substring out of EXPR and returns it. First character is at
offset 0, or whatever you've set C<$[> to (but don't do that).
-If OFFSET is negative, starts
+If OFFSET is negative (or more precisely, less than C<$[>), starts
that far from the end of the string. If LEN is omitted, returns
everything to the end of the string. If LEN is negative, leaves that
many characters off the end of the string.
+If you specify a substring which is partly outside the string, the part
+within the string is returned. If the substring is totally outside
+the string a warning is produced.
+
You can use the substr() function
as an lvalue, in which case EXPR must be an lvalue. If you assign
something shorter than LEN, the string will shrink, and if you assign
Note that Perl supports passing of up to only 14 arguments to your system call,
which in practice should usually suffice.
+Syscall returns whatever value returned by the system call it calls.
+If the system call fails, syscall returns -1 and sets C<$!> (errno).
+Note that some system calls can legitimately return -1. The proper
+way to handle such calls is to assign C<$!=0;> before the call and
+check the value of <$!> if syscall returns -1.
+
+There's a problem with C<syscall(&SYS_pipe)>: it returns the file
+number of the read end of the pipe it creates. There is no way
+to retrieve the file number of the other end. You can avoid this
+problem by using C<pipe> instead.
+
=item sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE
=item sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE,PERMS
=item sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH
Attempts to read LENGTH bytes of data into variable SCALAR from the
-specified FILEHANDLE, using the system call read(2). It bypasses stdio,
-so mixing this with other kinds of reads, print(), write(), seek(), or
-tell() can cause confusion. Returns the number of bytes actually read,
-or undef if there was an error. SCALAR will be grown or shrunk so that
-the last byte actually read is the last byte of the scalar after the
-read.
+specified FILEHANDLE, using the system call read(2). It bypasses
+stdio, so mixing this with other kinds of reads, print(), write(),
+seek(), or tell() can cause confusion because stdio usually buffers
+data. Returns the number of bytes actually read, or undef if there
+was an error. SCALAR will be grown or shrunk so that the last byte
+actually read is the last byte of the scalar after the read.
An OFFSET may be specified to place the read data at some place in the
string other than the beginning. A negative OFFSET specifies
}
$ok = ($rc != 0);
+When the arguments get executed via the system shell, results will
+be subject to its quirks and capabilities. See L<perlop/"`STRING`">
+for details.
+
=item syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET
=item syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH
Attempts to write LENGTH bytes of data from variable SCALAR to the
specified FILEHANDLE, using the system call write(2). It bypasses
stdio, so mixing this with reads (other than sysread()), print(),
-write(), seek(), or tell() may cause confusion. Returns the number of
-bytes actually written, or undef if there was an error. If the length
-is greater than the available data, only as much data as is available
+write(), seek(), or tell() may cause confusion because stdio usually
+buffers data. Returns the number of bytes actually written, or undef
+if there was an error. If the LENGTH is greater than the available
+data in the SCALAR after the OFFSET, only as much data as is available
will be written.
An OFFSET may be specified to write the data from some part of the
string other than the beginning. A negative OFFSET specifies writing
-that many bytes counting backwards from the end of the string.
+that many bytes counting backwards from the end of the string. In the
+case the SCALAR is empty you can use OFFSET but only zero offset.
=item tell FILEHANDLE
for you--you need to do that explicitly yourself. See L<DB_File>
or the F<Config> module for interesting tie() implementations.
+For further details see L<perltie>, L<tied VARIABLE>.
+
=item tied VARIABLE
Returns a reference to the object underlying VARIABLE (the same value
=item tr///
-The translation operator. Same as y///. See L<perlop>.
+The transliteration operator. Same as y///. See L<perlop>.
=item truncate FILEHANDLE,LENGTH
=item y///
-The translation operator. Same as tr///. See L<perlop>.
+The transliteration operator. Same as tr///. See L<perlop>.
=back
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