s/z/tz/

[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / pod / perlvar.pod

diff --git a/pod/perlvar.pod b/pod/perlvar.pod
index da06055..e66654d 100644 (file)
--- a/pod/perlvar.pod
+++ b/pod/perlvar.pod
@@ -118,7 +118,9 @@ test.  Outside a C<while> test, this will not happen.
 Special package variables when using sort(), see L<perlfunc/sort>.
 Because of this specialness $a and $b don't need to be declared
 (using local(), use vars, or our()) even when using the strict
-vars pragma.
+vars pragma.  Don't lexicalize them with C<my $a> or C<my $b>
+if you want to be able to use them in the sort() comparison block
+or function.
 
 =back
 
@@ -178,15 +180,33 @@ performance penalty on all regular expression matches.  See L<BUGS>.
 
 =item $+
 
-The last bracket matched by the last search pattern.  This is useful if
-you don't know which one of a set of alternative patterns matched.  For
-example:
+The text matched by the last bracket of the last successful search pattern.
+This is useful if you don't know which one of a set of alternative patterns
+matched. For example:
 
     /Version: (.*)|Revision: (.*)/ && ($rev = $+);
 
 (Mnemonic: be positive and forward looking.)
 This variable is read-only and dynamically scoped to the current BLOCK.
 
+=item $^N
+
+The text matched by the used group most-recently closed (i.e. the group
+with the rightmost closing parenthesis) of the last successful search
+pattern.  (Mnemonic: the (possibly) Nested parenthesis that most
+recently closed.)
+
+This is primarly used inside C<(?{...})> blocks for examining text
+recently matched. For example, to effectively capture text to a variable
+(in addition to C<$1>, C<$2>, etc.), replace C<(...)> with
+
+     (?:(...)(?{ $var = $^N }))
+
+By setting and then using C<$var> in this way relieves you from having to
+worry about exactly which numbered set of parentheses they are.
+
+This variable is dynamically scoped to the current BLOCK.
+
 =item @LAST_MATCH_END
 
 =item @+
@@ -452,10 +472,8 @@ This array holds the offsets of the beginnings of the last
 successful submatches in the currently active dynamic scope.
 C<$-[0]> is the offset into the string of the beginning of the
 entire match.  The I<n>th element of this array holds the offset
-of the I<n>th submatch, so C<$+[1]> is the offset where $1
-begins, C<$+[2]> the offset where $2 begins, and so on.
-You can use C<$#-> to determine how many subgroups were in the
-last successful match.  Compare with the C<@+> variable.
+of the I<n>th submatch, so C<$-[1]> is the offset where $1
+begins, C<$-[2]> the offset where $2 begins, and so on.
 
 After a match against some variable $var:
 
@@ -554,7 +572,7 @@ change the exit status of your program.  For example:
 
 Under VMS, the pragma C<use vmsish 'status'> makes C<$?> reflect the
 actual VMS exit status, instead of the default emulation of POSIX
-status.
+status; see L<perlvms/$?> for details.
 
 Also see L<Error Indicators>.
 
@@ -609,10 +627,10 @@ Also see L<Error Indicators>.
 
 =item $@
 
-The Perl syntax error message from the last eval() operator.  If null, the
-last eval() parsed and executed correctly (although the operations you
-invoked may have failed in the normal fashion).  (Mnemonic: Where was
-the syntax error "at"?)
+The Perl syntax error message from the last eval() operator.
+If $@ is the null string, the last eval() parsed and executed
+correctly (although the operations you invoked may have failed in the
+normal fashion).  (Mnemonic: Where was the syntax error "at"?)
 
 Warning messages are not collected in this variable.  You can,
 however, set up a routine to process warnings by setting C<$SIG{__WARN__}>