=item binmode FILEHANDLE
-Arranges for FILEHANDLE to be read or written in "binary" mode on
-systems where the run-time libraries distinguish between binary and
+Arranges for FILEHANDLE to be read or written in "binary" or "text" mode
+on systems where the run-time libraries distinguish between binary and
text files. If FILEHANDLE is an expression, the value is taken as the
-name of the filehandle. binmode() should be called after open() but
-before any I/O is done on the filehandle. The only way to reset
-binary mode on a filehandle is to reopen the file.
+name of the filehandle. DISCIPLINE can be either of C<":raw"> for
+binary mode or C<":crlf"> for "text" mode. If the DISCIPLINE is
+omitted, it defaults to C<":raw">.
-On many systems binmode() has no effect, and on some systems it is
-necessary when you're not working with a text file. For the sake of
-portability it is a good idea to always use it when appropriate, and
-to never use it when it isn't appropriate.
+binmode() should be called after open() but before any I/O is done on
+the filehandle.
+
+On many systems binmode() currently has no effect, but in future, it
+will be extended to support user-defined input and output disciplines.
+On some systems binmode() is necessary when you're not working with a
+text file. For the sake of portability it is a good idea to always use
+it when appropriate, and to never use it when it isn't appropriate.
In other words: Regardless of platform, use binmode() on binary
files, and do not use binmode() on text files.
+The C<open> pragma can be used to establish default disciplines.
+See L<open>.
+
The operating system, device drivers, C libraries, and Perl run-time
system all work together to let the programmer treat a single
character (C<\n>) as the line terminator, irrespective of the external
didn't--it tried to run a program literally called I<"echo surprise">,
didn't find it, and set C<$?> to a non-zero value indicating failure.
+Beginning with v5.6.0, Perl will attempt to flush all files opened for
+output before the exec, but this may not be supported on some platforms
+(see L<perlport>). To be safe, you may need to set C<$|> ($AUTOFLUSH
+in English) or call the C<autoflush()> method of C<IO::Handle> on any
+open handles in order to avoid lost output.
+
Note that C<exec> will not call your C<END> blocks, nor will it call
any C<DESTROY> methods in your objects.
example, using copy-on-write technology on data pages), making it the
dominant paradigm for multitasking over the last few decades.
-All files opened for output are flushed before forking the child process.
+Beginning with v5.6.0, Perl will attempt to flush all files opened for
+output before forking the child process, but this may not be supported
+on some platforms (see L<perlport>). To be safe, you may need to set
+C<$|> ($AUTOFLUSH in English) or call the C<autoflush()> method of
+C<IO::Handle> on any open handles in order to avoid duplicate output.
If you C<fork> without ever waiting on your children, you will
accumulate zombies. On some systems, you can avoid this by setting
=item gmtime EXPR
-Converts a time as returned by the time function to a 9-element list
+Converts a time as returned by the time function to a 8-element list
with the time localized for the standard Greenwich time zone.
Typically used as follows:
- # 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
- ($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,$yday,$isdst) =
+ # 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
+ ($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,$yday) =
gmtime(time);
-All list elements are numeric, and come straight out of a struct tm.
-In particular this means that $mon has the range C<0..11> and $wday
-has the range C<0..6> with sunday as day C<0>. Also, $year is the
-number of years since 1900, that is, $year is C<123> in year 2023,
-I<not> simply the last two digits of the year. If you assume it is,
-then you create non-Y2K-compliant programs--and you wouldn't want to do
-that, would you?
+All list elements are numeric, and come straight out of the C `struct
+tm'. $sec, $min, and $hour are the seconds, minutes, and hours of the
+specified time. $mday is the day of the month, and $mon is the month
+itself, in the range C<0..11> with 0 indicating January and 11
+indicating December. $year is the number of years since 1900. That
+is, $year is C<123> in year 2023. $wday is the day of the week, with
+0 indicating Sunday and 3 indicating Wednesday. $yday is the day of
+the year, in the range C<1..365> (or C<1..366> in leap years.)
+
+Note that the $year element is I<not> simply the last two digits of
+the year. If you assume it is, then you create non-Y2K-compliant
+programs--and you wouldn't want to do that, would you?
The proper way to get a complete 4-digit year is simply:
$year = sprintf("%02d", $year % 100);
-If EXPR is omitted, does C<gmtime(time())>.
+If EXPR is omitted, C<gmtime()> uses the current time (C<gmtime(time)>).
-In scalar context, returns the ctime(3) value:
+In scalar context, C<gmtime()> returns the ctime(3) value:
$now_string = gmtime; # e.g., "Thu Oct 13 04:54:34 1994"
($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,$yday,$isdst) =
localtime(time);
-All list elements are numeric, and come straight out of a struct tm.
-In particular this means that $mon has the range C<0..11> and $wday
-has the range C<0..6> with sunday as day C<0>. Also, $year is the
-number of years since 1900, that is, $year is C<123> in year 2023,
-and I<not> simply the last two digits of the year. If you assume it is,
-then you create non-Y2K-compliant programs--and you wouldn't want to do
-that, would you?
+All list elements are numeric, and come straight out of the C `struct
+tm'. $sec, $min, and $hour are the seconds, minutes, and hours of the
+specified time. $mday is the day of the month, and $mon is the month
+itself, in the range C<0..11> with 0 indicating January and 11
+indicating December. $year is the number of years since 1900. That
+is, $year is C<123> in year 2023. $wday is the day of the week, with
+0 indicating Sunday and 3 indicating Wednesday. $yday is the day of
+the year, in the range C<1..365> (or C<1..366> in leap years.) $isdst
+is true if the specified time occurs during daylight savings time,
+false otherwise.
+
+Note that the $year element is I<not> simply the last two digits of
+the year. If you assume it is, then you create non-Y2K-compliant
+programs--and you wouldn't want to do that, would you?
The proper way to get a complete 4-digit year is simply:
$year = sprintf("%02d", $year % 100);
-If EXPR is omitted, uses the current time (C<localtime(time)>).
+If EXPR is omitted, C<localtime()> uses the current time (C<localtime(time)>).
-In scalar context, returns the ctime(3) value:
+In scalar context, C<localtime()> returns the ctime(3) value:
$now_string = localtime; # e.g., "Thu Oct 13 04:54:34 1994"
us. See L<perlipc/"Using open() for IPC">
for more examples of this. (You are not allowed to C<open> to a command
that pipes both in I<and> out, but see L<IPC::Open2>, L<IPC::Open3>,
-and L<perlipc/"Bidirectional Communication"> for alternatives.)
+and L<perlipc/"Bidirectional Communication with Another Process">
+for alternatives.)
If MODE is C<'|-'>, the filename is interpreted as a
command to which output is to be piped, and if MODE is
See L<perlipc/"Safe Pipe Opens"> for more examples of this.
-NOTE: On any operation that may do a fork, all files opened for output
-are flushed before the fork is attempted. On systems that support a
+Beginning with v5.6.0, Perl will attempt to flush all files opened for
+output before any operation that may do a fork, but this may not be
+supported on some platforms (see L<perlport>). To be safe, you may need
+to set C<$|> ($AUTOFLUSH in English) or call the C<autoflush()> method
+of C<IO::Handle> on any open handles.
+
+On systems that support a
close-on-exec flag on files, the flag will be set for the newly opened
file descriptor as determined by the value of $^F. See L<perlvar/$^F>.
subroutine.
If the subroutine's prototype is C<($$)>, the elements to be compared
-are passed by reference in C<@_>, as for a normal subroutine. If not,
-the normal calling code for subroutines is bypassed in the interests of
-efficiency, and the elements to be compared are passed into the subroutine
+are passed by reference in C<@_>, as for a normal subroutine. This is
+slower than unprototyped subroutines, where the elements to be
+compared are passed into the subroutine
as the package global variables $a and $b (see example below). Note that
in the latter case, it is usually counter-productive to declare $a and
$b as lexicals.
it is split into words and passed directly to C<execvp>, which is
more efficient.
-All files opened for output are flushed before attempting the exec().
+Beginning with v5.6.0, Perl will attempt to flush all files opened for
+output before any operation that may do a fork, but this may not be
+supported on some platforms (see L<perlport>). To be safe, you may need
+to set C<$|> ($AUTOFLUSH in English) or call the C<autoflush()> method
+of C<IO::Handle> on any open handles.
The return value is the exit status of the program as
returned by the C<wait> call. To get the actual exit value divide by