=head1 DESCRIPTION
A Perl script consists of a sequence of declarations and statements.
-The only things that need to be declared in Perl are report formats
-and subroutines. See the sections below for more information on those
-declarations. All uninitialized user-created objects are assumed to
-start with a C<null> or C<0> value until they are defined by some explicit
-operation such as assignment. (Though you can get warnings about the
-use of undefined values if you like.) The sequence of statements is
-executed just once, unlike in B<sed> and B<awk> scripts, where the
-sequence of statements is executed for each input line. While this means
-that you must explicitly loop over the lines of your input file (or
-files), it also means you have much more control over which files and
-which lines you look at. (Actually, I'm lying--it is possible to do an
-implicit loop with either the B<-n> or B<-p> switch. It's just not the
-mandatory default like it is in B<sed> and B<awk>.)
+The sequence of statements is executed just once, unlike in B<sed>
+and B<awk> scripts, where the sequence of statements is executed
+for each input line. While this means that you must explicitly
+loop over the lines of your input file (or files), it also means
+you have much more control over which files and which lines you look at.
+(Actually, I'm lying--it is possible to do an implicit loop with
+either the B<-n> or B<-p> switch. It's just not the mandatory
+default like it is in B<sed> and B<awk>.)
+
+Perl is, for the most part, a free-form language. (The only exception
+to this is format declarations, for obvious reasons.) Text from a
+C<"#"> character until the end of the line is a comment, and is
+ignored. If you attempt to use C</* */> C-style comments, it will be
+interpreted either as division or pattern matching, depending on the
+context, and C++ C<//> comments just look like a null regular
+expression, so don't do that.
=head2 Declarations
-Perl is, for the most part, a free-form language. (The only
-exception to this is format declarations, for obvious reasons.) Comments
-are indicated by the C<"#"> character, and extend to the end of the line. If
-you attempt to use C</* */> C-style comments, it will be interpreted
-either as division or pattern matching, depending on the context, and C++
-C<//> comments just look like a null regular expression, so don't do
-that.
+The only things you need to declare in Perl are report formats
+and subroutines--and even undefined subroutines can be handled
+through AUTOLOAD. A variable holds the undefined value (C<undef>)
+until it has been assigned a defined value, which is anything
+other than C<undef>. When used as a number, C<undef> is treated
+as C<0>; when used as a string, it is treated the empty string,
+C<"">; and when used as a reference that isn't being assigned
+to, it is treated as an error. If you enable warnings, you'll
+be notified of an uninitialized value whenever you treat C<undef>
+as a string or a number. Well, usually. Boolean ("don't-care")
+contexts and operators such as C<++>, C<-->, C<+=>, C<-=>, and
+C<.=> are always exempt from such warnings.
A declaration can be put anywhere a statement can, but has no effect on
the execution of the primary sequence of statements--declarations all
take effect at compile time. Typically all the declarations are put at
the beginning or the end of the script. However, if you're using
-lexically-scoped private variables created with C<my()>, you'll have to make sure
+lexically-scoped private variables created with C<my()>, you'll
+have to make sure
your format or subroutine definition is within the same block scope
as the my if you expect to be able to access those private variables.
sub myname;
$me = myname $0 or die "can't get myname";
-Note that it functions as a list operator, not as a unary operator; so
-be careful to use C<or> instead of C<||> in this case. However, if
+Note that myname() functions as a list operator, not as a unary operator;
+so be careful to use C<or> instead of C<||> in this case. However, if
you were to declare the subroutine as C<sub myname ($)>, then
C<myname> would function as a unary operator, so either C<or> or
C<||> would work.
iterator: For each value in EXPR, it aliases C<$_> to the value and
executes the statement. The C<while> and C<until> modifiers have the
usual "C<while> loop" semantics (conditional evaluated first), except
-when applied to a C<do>-BLOCK (or to the now-deprecated C<do>-SUBROUTINE
+when applied to a C<do>-BLOCK (or to the deprecated C<do>-SUBROUTINE
statement), in which case the block executes once before the
conditional is evaluated. This is so that you can write loops like:
LABEL while (EXPR) BLOCK continue BLOCK
LABEL for (EXPR; EXPR; EXPR) BLOCK
LABEL foreach VAR (LIST) BLOCK
+ LABEL foreach VAR (LIST) BLOCK continue BLOCK
LABEL BLOCK continue BLOCK
Note that, unlike C and Pascal, these are defined in terms of BLOCKs,
the sense of the test is reversed.
The C<while> statement executes the block as long as the expression is
-true (does not evaluate to the null string (C<"">) or C<0> or C<"0")>. The LABEL is
-optional, and if present, consists of an identifier followed by a colon.
-The LABEL identifies the loop for the loop control statements C<next>,
-C<last>, and C<redo>. If the LABEL is omitted, the loop control statement
+true (does not evaluate to the null string C<""> or C<0> or C<"0">).
+The LABEL is optional, and if present, consists of an identifier followed
+by a colon. The LABEL identifies the loop for the loop control
+statements C<next>, C<last>, and C<redo>.
+If the LABEL is omitted, the loop control statement
refers to the innermost enclosing loop. This may include dynamically
looking back your call-stack at run time to find the LABEL. Such
-desperate behavior triggers a warning if you use the B<-w> flag.
+desperate behavior triggers a warning if you use the C<use warnings>
+pragma or the B<-w> flag.
+Unlike a C<foreach> statement, a C<while> statement never implicitly
+localises any variables.
If there is a C<continue> BLOCK, it is always executed just before the
conditional is about to be evaluated again, just like the third part of a
implicitly local to the loop and regains its former value upon exiting
the loop. If the variable was previously declared with C<my>, it uses
that variable instead of the global one, but it's still localized to
-the loop. (Note that a lexically scoped variable can cause problems
-if you have subroutine or format declarations within the loop which
-refer to it.)
+the loop.
The C<foreach> keyword is actually a synonym for the C<for> keyword, so
you can use C<foreach> for readability or C<for> for brevity. (Or because
for (@ary) { s/foo/bar/ }
- foreach my $elem (@elements) {
+ for my $elem (@elements) {
$elem *= 2;
}
Whereas here's how a Perl programmer more comfortable with the idiom might
do it:
- OUTER: foreach my $wid (@ary1) {
- INNER: foreach my $jet (@ary2) {
+ OUTER: for my $wid (@ary1) {
+ INNER: for my $jet (@ary2) {
next OUTER if $wid > $jet;
$wid += $jet;
}
Or if you are certainly that all the C<&&> clauses are true, you can use
something like this, which "switches" on the value of the
-C<HTTP_USER_AGENT> envariable.
+C<HTTP_USER_AGENT> environment variable.
#!/usr/bin/perl
# pick out jargon file page based on browser
That kind of switch statement only works when you know the C<&&> clauses
will be true. If you don't, the previous C<?:> example should be used.
-You might also consider writing a hash instead of synthesizing a C<switch>
-statement.
+You might also consider writing a hash of subroutine references
+instead of synthesizing a C<switch> statement.
=head2 Goto
-Although not for the faint of heart, Perl does support a C<goto> statement.
-A loop's LABEL is not actually a valid target for a C<goto>;
-it's just the name of the loop. There are three forms: C<goto>-LABEL,
-C<goto>-EXPR, and C<goto>-&NAME.
+Although not for the faint of heart, Perl does support a C<goto>
+statement. There are three forms: C<goto>-LABEL, C<goto>-EXPR, and
+C<goto>-&NAME. A loop's LABEL is not actually a valid target for
+a C<goto>; it's just the name of the loop.
The C<goto>-LABEL form finds the statement labeled with LABEL and resumes
execution there. It may not be used to go into any construct that
dynamically. This allows for computed C<goto>s per FORTRAN, but isn't
necessarily recommended if you're optimizing for maintainability:
- goto ("FOO", "BAR", "GLARCH")[$i];
+ goto(("FOO", "BAR", "GLARCH")[$i]);
The C<goto>-&NAME form is highly magical, and substitutes a call to the
named subroutine for the currently running subroutine. This is used by
error or warning messages (especially for strings that are processed
with C<eval()>). The syntax for this mechanism is the same as for most
C preprocessors: it matches the regular expression
-C</^#\s*line\s+(\d+)\s*(?:\s"([^"]*)")?/> with C<$1> being the line
+C</^#\s*line\s+(\d+)\s*(?:\s"([^"]+)")?\s*$/> with C<$1> being the line
number for the next line, and C<$2> being the optional filename
(specified within quotes).
+There is a fairly obvious gotcha included with the line directive:
+Debuggers and profilers will only show the last source line to appear
+at a particular line number in a given file. Care should be taken not
+to cause line number collisions in code you'd like to debug later.
+
Here are some examples that you should be able to type into your command
shell:
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / blobdiff