4 perlfunc - Perl builtin functions
8 The functions in this section can serve as terms in an expression.
9 They fall into two major categories: list operators and named unary
10 operators. These differ in their precedence relationship with a
11 following comma. (See the precedence table in L<perlop>.) List
12 operators take more than one argument, while unary operators can never
13 take more than one argument. Thus, a comma terminates the argument of
14 a unary operator, but merely separates the arguments of a list
15 operator. A unary operator generally provides scalar context to its
16 argument, while a list operator may provide either scalar or list
17 contexts for its arguments. If it does both, scalar arguments
18 come first and list argument follow, and there can only ever
19 be one such list argument. For instance,
20 L<C<splice>|/splice ARRAY,OFFSET,LENGTH,LIST> has three scalar arguments
21 followed by a list, whereas L<C<gethostbyname>|/gethostbyname NAME> has
22 four scalar arguments.
24 In the syntax descriptions that follow, list operators that expect a
25 list (and provide list context for elements of the list) are shown
26 with LIST as an argument. Such a list may consist of any combination
27 of scalar arguments or list values; the list values will be included
28 in the list as if each individual element were interpolated at that
29 point in the list, forming a longer single-dimensional list value.
30 Commas should separate literal elements of the LIST.
32 Any function in the list below may be used either with or without
33 parentheses around its arguments. (The syntax descriptions omit the
34 parentheses.) If you use parentheses, the simple but occasionally
35 surprising rule is this: It I<looks> like a function, therefore it I<is> a
36 function, and precedence doesn't matter. Otherwise it's a list
37 operator or unary operator, and precedence does matter. Whitespace
38 between the function and left parenthesis doesn't count, so sometimes
39 you need to be careful:
41 print 1+2+4; # Prints 7.
42 print(1+2) + 4; # Prints 3.
43 print (1+2)+4; # Also prints 3!
44 print +(1+2)+4; # Prints 7.
45 print ((1+2)+4); # Prints 7.
47 If you run Perl with the L<C<use warnings>|warnings> pragma, it can warn
48 you about this. For example, the third line above produces:
50 print (...) interpreted as function at - line 1.
51 Useless use of integer addition in void context at - line 1.
53 A few functions take no arguments at all, and therefore work as neither
54 unary nor list operators. These include such functions as
55 L<C<time>|/time> and L<C<endpwent>|/endpwent>. For example,
56 C<time+86_400> always means C<time() + 86_400>.
58 For functions that can be used in either a scalar or list context,
59 nonabortive failure is generally indicated in scalar context by
60 returning the undefined value, and in list context by returning the
63 Remember the following important rule: There is B<no rule> that relates
64 the behavior of an expression in list context to its behavior in scalar
65 context, or vice versa. It might do two totally different things.
66 Each operator and function decides which sort of value would be most
67 appropriate to return in scalar context. Some operators return the
68 length of the list that would have been returned in list context. Some
69 operators return the first value in the list. Some operators return the
70 last value in the list. Some operators return a count of successful
71 operations. In general, they do what you want, unless you want
75 A named array in scalar context is quite different from what would at
76 first glance appear to be a list in scalar context. You can't get a list
77 like C<(1,2,3)> into being in scalar context, because the compiler knows
78 the context at compile time. It would generate the scalar comma operator
79 there, not the list concatenation version of the comma. That means it
80 was never a list to start with.
82 In general, functions in Perl that serve as wrappers for system calls
83 ("syscalls") of the same name (like L<chown(2)>, L<fork(2)>,
84 L<closedir(2)>, etc.) return true when they succeed and
85 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> otherwise, as is usually mentioned in the
86 descriptions below. This is different from the C interfaces, which
87 return C<-1> on failure. Exceptions to this rule include
88 L<C<wait>|/wait>, L<C<waitpid>|/waitpid PID,FLAGS>, and
89 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST>. System calls also set the special
90 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> variable on failure. Other functions do not, except
93 Extension modules can also hook into the Perl parser to define new
94 kinds of keyword-headed expression. These may look like functions, but
95 may also look completely different. The syntax following the keyword
96 is defined entirely by the extension. If you are an implementor, see
97 L<perlapi/PL_keyword_plugin> for the mechanism. If you are using such
98 a module, see the module's documentation for details of the syntax that
101 =head2 Perl Functions by Category
104 Here are Perl's functions (including things that look like
105 functions, like some keywords and named operators)
106 arranged by category. Some functions appear in more
107 than one place. Any warnings, including those produced by
108 keywords, are described in L<perldiag> and L<warnings>.
112 =item Functions for SCALARs or strings
113 X<scalar> X<string> X<character>
115 =for Pod::Functions =String
117 L<C<chomp>|/chomp VARIABLE>, L<C<chop>|/chop VARIABLE>,
118 L<C<chr>|/chr NUMBER>, L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT>,
119 L<C<fc>|/fc EXPR>, L<C<hex>|/hex EXPR>,
120 L<C<index>|/index STR,SUBSTR,POSITION>, L<C<lc>|/lc EXPR>,
121 L<C<lcfirst>|/lcfirst EXPR>, L<C<length>|/length EXPR>,
122 L<C<oct>|/oct EXPR>, L<C<ord>|/ord EXPR>,
123 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>,
124 L<C<qE<sol>E<sol>>|/qE<sol>STRINGE<sol>>,
125 L<C<qqE<sol>E<sol>>|/qqE<sol>STRINGE<sol>>, L<C<reverse>|/reverse LIST>,
126 L<C<rindex>|/rindex STR,SUBSTR,POSITION>,
127 L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST>,
128 L<C<substr>|/substr EXPR,OFFSET,LENGTH,REPLACEMENT>,
129 L<C<trE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>|/trE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>, L<C<uc>|/uc EXPR>,
130 L<C<ucfirst>|/ucfirst EXPR>,
131 L<C<yE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>|/yE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>
133 L<C<fc>|/fc EXPR> is available only if the
134 L<C<"fc"> feature|feature/The 'fc' feature> is enabled or if it is
135 prefixed with C<CORE::>. The
136 L<C<"fc"> feature|feature/The 'fc' feature> is enabled automatically
137 with a C<use v5.16> (or higher) declaration in the current scope.
139 =item Regular expressions and pattern matching
140 X<regular expression> X<regex> X<regexp>
142 =for Pod::Functions =Regexp
144 L<C<mE<sol>E<sol>>|/mE<sol>E<sol>>, L<C<pos>|/pos SCALAR>,
145 L<C<qrE<sol>E<sol>>|/qrE<sol>STRINGE<sol>>,
146 L<C<quotemeta>|/quotemeta EXPR>,
147 L<C<sE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>|/sE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>,
148 L<C<split>|/split E<sol>PATTERNE<sol>,EXPR,LIMIT>,
149 L<C<study>|/study SCALAR>
151 =item Numeric functions
152 X<numeric> X<number> X<trigonometric> X<trigonometry>
154 =for Pod::Functions =Math
156 L<C<abs>|/abs VALUE>, L<C<atan2>|/atan2 Y,X>, L<C<cos>|/cos EXPR>,
157 L<C<exp>|/exp EXPR>, L<C<hex>|/hex EXPR>, L<C<int>|/int EXPR>,
158 L<C<log>|/log EXPR>, L<C<oct>|/oct EXPR>, L<C<rand>|/rand EXPR>,
159 L<C<sin>|/sin EXPR>, L<C<sqrt>|/sqrt EXPR>, L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR>
161 =item Functions for real @ARRAYs
164 =for Pod::Functions =ARRAY
166 L<C<each>|/each HASH>, L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>, L<C<pop>|/pop ARRAY>,
167 L<C<push>|/push ARRAY,LIST>, L<C<shift>|/shift ARRAY>,
168 L<C<splice>|/splice ARRAY,OFFSET,LENGTH,LIST>,
169 L<C<unshift>|/unshift ARRAY,LIST>, L<C<values>|/values HASH>
171 =item Functions for list data
174 =for Pod::Functions =LIST
176 L<C<grep>|/grep BLOCK LIST>, L<C<join>|/join EXPR,LIST>,
177 L<C<map>|/map BLOCK LIST>, L<C<qwE<sol>E<sol>>|/qwE<sol>STRINGE<sol>>,
178 L<C<reverse>|/reverse LIST>, L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST>,
179 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>
181 =item Functions for real %HASHes
184 =for Pod::Functions =HASH
186 L<C<delete>|/delete EXPR>, L<C<each>|/each HASH>,
187 L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR>, L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>,
188 L<C<values>|/values HASH>
190 =item Input and output functions
191 X<I/O> X<input> X<output> X<dbm>
193 =for Pod::Functions =I/O
195 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>, L<C<close>|/close FILEHANDLE>,
196 L<C<closedir>|/closedir DIRHANDLE>, L<C<dbmclose>|/dbmclose HASH>,
197 L<C<dbmopen>|/dbmopen HASH,DBNAME,MASK>, L<C<die>|/die LIST>,
198 L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE>, L<C<fileno>|/fileno FILEHANDLE>,
199 L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION>, L<C<format>|/format>,
200 L<C<getc>|/getc FILEHANDLE>, L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST>,
201 L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST>,
202 L<C<read>|/read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
203 L<C<readdir>|/readdir DIRHANDLE>, L<C<readline>|/readline EXPR>,
204 L<C<rewinddir>|/rewinddir DIRHANDLE>, L<C<say>|/say FILEHANDLE LIST>,
205 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
206 L<C<seekdir>|/seekdir DIRHANDLE,POS>,
207 L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT>,
208 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST>,
209 L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
210 L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
211 L<C<syswrite>|/syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
212 L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE>, L<C<telldir>|/telldir DIRHANDLE>,
213 L<C<truncate>|/truncate FILEHANDLE,LENGTH>, L<C<warn>|/warn LIST>,
214 L<C<write>|/write FILEHANDLE>
216 L<C<say>|/say FILEHANDLE LIST> is available only if the
217 L<C<"say"> feature|feature/The 'say' feature> is enabled or if it is
218 prefixed with C<CORE::>. The
219 L<C<"say"> feature|feature/The 'say' feature> is enabled automatically
220 with a C<use v5.10> (or higher) declaration in the current scope.
222 =item Functions for fixed-length data or records
224 =for Pod::Functions =Binary
226 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>,
227 L<C<read>|/read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
228 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST>,
229 L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
230 L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
231 L<C<syswrite>|/syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
232 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>, L<C<vec>|/vec EXPR,OFFSET,BITS>
234 =item Functions for filehandles, files, or directories
235 X<file> X<filehandle> X<directory> X<pipe> X<link> X<symlink>
237 =for Pod::Functions =File
239 L<C<-I<X>>|/-X FILEHANDLE>, L<C<chdir>|/chdir EXPR>,
240 L<C<chmod>|/chmod LIST>, L<C<chown>|/chown LIST>,
241 L<C<chroot>|/chroot FILENAME>,
242 L<C<fcntl>|/fcntl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>, L<C<glob>|/glob EXPR>,
243 L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>,
244 L<C<link>|/link OLDFILE,NEWFILE>, L<C<lstat>|/lstat FILEHANDLE>,
245 L<C<mkdir>|/mkdir FILENAME,MODE>, L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>,
246 L<C<opendir>|/opendir DIRHANDLE,EXPR>, L<C<readlink>|/readlink EXPR>,
247 L<C<rename>|/rename OLDNAME,NEWNAME>, L<C<rmdir>|/rmdir FILENAME>,
248 L<C<select>|/select FILEHANDLE>, L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE>,
249 L<C<symlink>|/symlink OLDFILE,NEWFILE>,
250 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE>,
251 L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR>, L<C<unlink>|/unlink LIST>,
252 L<C<utime>|/utime LIST>
254 =item Keywords related to the control flow of your Perl program
257 =for Pod::Functions =Flow
259 L<C<break>|/break>, L<C<caller>|/caller EXPR>,
260 L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK>, L<C<die>|/die LIST>, L<C<do>|/do BLOCK>,
261 L<C<dump>|/dump LABEL>, L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>,
262 L<C<evalbytes>|/evalbytes EXPR>, L<C<exit>|/exit EXPR>,
263 L<C<__FILE__>|/__FILE__>, L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL>,
264 L<C<last>|/last LABEL>, L<C<__LINE__>|/__LINE__>,
265 L<C<next>|/next LABEL>, L<C<__PACKAGE__>|/__PACKAGE__>,
266 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL>, L<C<return>|/return EXPR>,
267 L<C<sub>|/sub NAME BLOCK>, L<C<__SUB__>|/__SUB__>,
268 L<C<wantarray>|/wantarray>
270 L<C<break>|/break> is available only if you enable the experimental
271 L<C<"switch"> feature|feature/The 'switch' feature> or use the C<CORE::>
272 prefix. The L<C<"switch"> feature|feature/The 'switch' feature> also
273 enables the C<default>, C<given> and C<when> statements, which are
274 documented in L<perlsyn/"Switch Statements">.
275 The L<C<"switch"> feature|feature/The 'switch' feature> is enabled
276 automatically with a C<use v5.10> (or higher) declaration in the current
277 scope. In Perl v5.14 and earlier, L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK>
278 required the L<C<"switch"> feature|feature/The 'switch' feature>, like
281 L<C<evalbytes>|/evalbytes EXPR> is only available with the
282 L<C<"evalbytes"> feature|feature/The 'unicode_eval' and 'evalbytes' features>
283 (see L<feature>) or if prefixed with C<CORE::>. L<C<__SUB__>|/__SUB__>
284 is only available with the
285 L<C<"current_sub"> feature|feature/The 'current_sub' feature> or if
286 prefixed with C<CORE::>. Both the
287 L<C<"evalbytes">|feature/The 'unicode_eval' and 'evalbytes' features>
288 and L<C<"current_sub">|feature/The 'current_sub' feature> features are
289 enabled automatically with a C<use v5.16> (or higher) declaration in the
292 =item Keywords related to scoping
294 =for Pod::Functions =Namespace
296 L<C<caller>|/caller EXPR>, L<C<import>|/import LIST>,
297 L<C<local>|/local EXPR>, L<C<my>|/my VARLIST>, L<C<our>|/our VARLIST>,
298 L<C<package>|/package NAMESPACE>, L<C<state>|/state VARLIST>,
299 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>
301 L<C<state>|/state VARLIST> is available only if the
302 L<C<"state"> feature|feature/The 'state' feature> is enabled or if it is
303 prefixed with C<CORE::>. The
304 L<C<"state"> feature|feature/The 'state' feature> is enabled
305 automatically with a C<use v5.10> (or higher) declaration in the current
308 =item Miscellaneous functions
310 =for Pod::Functions =Misc
312 L<C<defined>|/defined EXPR>, L<C<formline>|/formline PICTURE,LIST>,
313 L<C<lock>|/lock THING>, L<C<prototype>|/prototype FUNCTION>,
314 L<C<reset>|/reset EXPR>, L<C<scalar>|/scalar EXPR>,
315 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>
317 =item Functions for processes and process groups
318 X<process> X<pid> X<process id>
320 =for Pod::Functions =Process
322 L<C<alarm>|/alarm SECONDS>, L<C<exec>|/exec LIST>, L<C<fork>|/fork>,
323 L<C<getpgrp>|/getpgrp PID>, L<C<getppid>|/getppid>,
324 L<C<getpriority>|/getpriority WHICH,WHO>, L<C<kill>|/kill SIGNAL, LIST>,
325 L<C<pipe>|/pipe READHANDLE,WRITEHANDLE>,
326 L<C<qxE<sol>E<sol>>|/qxE<sol>STRINGE<sol>>,
327 L<C<readpipe>|/readpipe EXPR>, L<C<setpgrp>|/setpgrp PID,PGRP>,
328 L<C<setpriority>|/setpriority WHICH,WHO,PRIORITY>,
329 L<C<sleep>|/sleep EXPR>, L<C<system>|/system LIST>, L<C<times>|/times>,
330 L<C<wait>|/wait>, L<C<waitpid>|/waitpid PID,FLAGS>
332 =item Keywords related to Perl modules
335 =for Pod::Functions =Modules
337 L<C<do>|/do EXPR>, L<C<import>|/import LIST>,
338 L<C<no>|/no MODULE VERSION LIST>, L<C<package>|/package NAMESPACE>,
339 L<C<require>|/require VERSION>, L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>
341 =item Keywords related to classes and object-orientation
342 X<object> X<class> X<package>
344 =for Pod::Functions =Objects
346 L<C<bless>|/bless REF,CLASSNAME>, L<C<dbmclose>|/dbmclose HASH>,
347 L<C<dbmopen>|/dbmopen HASH,DBNAME,MASK>,
348 L<C<package>|/package NAMESPACE>, L<C<ref>|/ref EXPR>,
349 L<C<tie>|/tie VARIABLE,CLASSNAME,LIST>, L<C<tied>|/tied VARIABLE>,
350 L<C<untie>|/untie VARIABLE>, L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>
352 =item Low-level socket functions
355 =for Pod::Functions =Socket
357 L<C<accept>|/accept NEWSOCKET,GENERICSOCKET>,
358 L<C<bind>|/bind SOCKET,NAME>, L<C<connect>|/connect SOCKET,NAME>,
359 L<C<getpeername>|/getpeername SOCKET>,
360 L<C<getsockname>|/getsockname SOCKET>,
361 L<C<getsockopt>|/getsockopt SOCKET,LEVEL,OPTNAME>,
362 L<C<listen>|/listen SOCKET,QUEUESIZE>,
363 L<C<recv>|/recv SOCKET,SCALAR,LENGTH,FLAGS>,
364 L<C<send>|/send SOCKET,MSG,FLAGS,TO>,
365 L<C<setsockopt>|/setsockopt SOCKET,LEVEL,OPTNAME,OPTVAL>,
366 L<C<shutdown>|/shutdown SOCKET,HOW>,
367 L<C<socket>|/socket SOCKET,DOMAIN,TYPE,PROTOCOL>,
368 L<C<socketpair>|/socketpair SOCKET1,SOCKET2,DOMAIN,TYPE,PROTOCOL>
370 =item System V interprocess communication functions
371 X<IPC> X<System V> X<semaphore> X<shared memory> X<memory> X<message>
373 =for Pod::Functions =SysV
375 L<C<msgctl>|/msgctl ID,CMD,ARG>, L<C<msgget>|/msgget KEY,FLAGS>,
376 L<C<msgrcv>|/msgrcv ID,VAR,SIZE,TYPE,FLAGS>,
377 L<C<msgsnd>|/msgsnd ID,MSG,FLAGS>,
378 L<C<semctl>|/semctl ID,SEMNUM,CMD,ARG>,
379 L<C<semget>|/semget KEY,NSEMS,FLAGS>, L<C<semop>|/semop KEY,OPSTRING>,
380 L<C<shmctl>|/shmctl ID,CMD,ARG>, L<C<shmget>|/shmget KEY,SIZE,FLAGS>,
381 L<C<shmread>|/shmread ID,VAR,POS,SIZE>,
382 L<C<shmwrite>|/shmwrite ID,STRING,POS,SIZE>
384 =item Fetching user and group info
385 X<user> X<group> X<password> X<uid> X<gid> X<passwd> X</etc/passwd>
387 =for Pod::Functions =User
389 L<C<endgrent>|/endgrent>, L<C<endhostent>|/endhostent>,
390 L<C<endnetent>|/endnetent>, L<C<endpwent>|/endpwent>,
391 L<C<getgrent>|/getgrent>, L<C<getgrgid>|/getgrgid GID>,
392 L<C<getgrnam>|/getgrnam NAME>, L<C<getlogin>|/getlogin>,
393 L<C<getpwent>|/getpwent>, L<C<getpwnam>|/getpwnam NAME>,
394 L<C<getpwuid>|/getpwuid UID>, L<C<setgrent>|/setgrent>,
395 L<C<setpwent>|/setpwent>
397 =item Fetching network info
398 X<network> X<protocol> X<host> X<hostname> X<IP> X<address> X<service>
400 =for Pod::Functions =Network
402 L<C<endprotoent>|/endprotoent>, L<C<endservent>|/endservent>,
403 L<C<gethostbyaddr>|/gethostbyaddr ADDR,ADDRTYPE>,
404 L<C<gethostbyname>|/gethostbyname NAME>, L<C<gethostent>|/gethostent>,
405 L<C<getnetbyaddr>|/getnetbyaddr ADDR,ADDRTYPE>,
406 L<C<getnetbyname>|/getnetbyname NAME>, L<C<getnetent>|/getnetent>,
407 L<C<getprotobyname>|/getprotobyname NAME>,
408 L<C<getprotobynumber>|/getprotobynumber NUMBER>,
409 L<C<getprotoent>|/getprotoent>,
410 L<C<getservbyname>|/getservbyname NAME,PROTO>,
411 L<C<getservbyport>|/getservbyport PORT,PROTO>,
412 L<C<getservent>|/getservent>, L<C<sethostent>|/sethostent STAYOPEN>,
413 L<C<setnetent>|/setnetent STAYOPEN>,
414 L<C<setprotoent>|/setprotoent STAYOPEN>,
415 L<C<setservent>|/setservent STAYOPEN>
417 =item Time-related functions
420 =for Pod::Functions =Time
422 L<C<gmtime>|/gmtime EXPR>, L<C<localtime>|/localtime EXPR>,
423 L<C<time>|/time>, L<C<times>|/times>
425 =item Non-function keywords
427 =for Pod::Functions =!Non-functions
429 C<and>, C<AUTOLOAD>, C<BEGIN>, C<CHECK>, C<cmp>, C<CORE>, C<__DATA__>,
430 C<default>, C<DESTROY>, C<else>, C<elseif>, C<elsif>, C<END>, C<__END__>,
431 C<eq>, C<for>, C<foreach>, C<ge>, C<given>, C<gt>, C<if>, C<INIT>, C<le>,
432 C<lt>, C<ne>, C<not>, C<or>, C<UNITCHECK>, C<unless>, C<until>, C<when>,
433 C<while>, C<x>, C<xor>
438 X<portability> X<Unix> X<portable>
440 Perl was born in Unix and can therefore access all common Unix
441 system calls. In non-Unix environments, the functionality of some
442 Unix system calls may not be available or details of the available
443 functionality may differ slightly. The Perl functions affected
446 L<C<-I<X>>|/-X FILEHANDLE>, L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>,
447 L<C<chmod>|/chmod LIST>, L<C<chown>|/chown LIST>,
448 L<C<chroot>|/chroot FILENAME>, L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT>,
449 L<C<dbmclose>|/dbmclose HASH>, L<C<dbmopen>|/dbmopen HASH,DBNAME,MASK>,
450 L<C<dump>|/dump LABEL>, L<C<endgrent>|/endgrent>,
451 L<C<endhostent>|/endhostent>, L<C<endnetent>|/endnetent>,
452 L<C<endprotoent>|/endprotoent>, L<C<endpwent>|/endpwent>,
453 L<C<endservent>|/endservent>, L<C<exec>|/exec LIST>,
454 L<C<fcntl>|/fcntl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>,
455 L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION>, L<C<fork>|/fork>,
456 L<C<getgrent>|/getgrent>, L<C<getgrgid>|/getgrgid GID>,
457 L<C<gethostbyname>|/gethostbyname NAME>, L<C<gethostent>|/gethostent>,
458 L<C<getlogin>|/getlogin>,
459 L<C<getnetbyaddr>|/getnetbyaddr ADDR,ADDRTYPE>,
460 L<C<getnetbyname>|/getnetbyname NAME>, L<C<getnetent>|/getnetent>,
461 L<C<getppid>|/getppid>, L<C<getpgrp>|/getpgrp PID>,
462 L<C<getpriority>|/getpriority WHICH,WHO>,
463 L<C<getprotobynumber>|/getprotobynumber NUMBER>,
464 L<C<getprotoent>|/getprotoent>, L<C<getpwent>|/getpwent>,
465 L<C<getpwnam>|/getpwnam NAME>, L<C<getpwuid>|/getpwuid UID>,
466 L<C<getservbyport>|/getservbyport PORT,PROTO>,
467 L<C<getservent>|/getservent>,
468 L<C<getsockopt>|/getsockopt SOCKET,LEVEL,OPTNAME>,
469 L<C<glob>|/glob EXPR>, L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>,
470 L<C<kill>|/kill SIGNAL, LIST>, L<C<link>|/link OLDFILE,NEWFILE>,
471 L<C<lstat>|/lstat FILEHANDLE>, L<C<msgctl>|/msgctl ID,CMD,ARG>,
472 L<C<msgget>|/msgget KEY,FLAGS>,
473 L<C<msgrcv>|/msgrcv ID,VAR,SIZE,TYPE,FLAGS>,
474 L<C<msgsnd>|/msgsnd ID,MSG,FLAGS>, L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>,
475 L<C<pipe>|/pipe READHANDLE,WRITEHANDLE>, L<C<readlink>|/readlink EXPR>,
476 L<C<rename>|/rename OLDNAME,NEWNAME>,
477 L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT>,
478 L<C<semctl>|/semctl ID,SEMNUM,CMD,ARG>,
479 L<C<semget>|/semget KEY,NSEMS,FLAGS>, L<C<semop>|/semop KEY,OPSTRING>,
480 L<C<setgrent>|/setgrent>, L<C<sethostent>|/sethostent STAYOPEN>,
481 L<C<setnetent>|/setnetent STAYOPEN>, L<C<setpgrp>|/setpgrp PID,PGRP>,
482 L<C<setpriority>|/setpriority WHICH,WHO,PRIORITY>,
483 L<C<setprotoent>|/setprotoent STAYOPEN>, L<C<setpwent>|/setpwent>,
484 L<C<setservent>|/setservent STAYOPEN>,
485 L<C<setsockopt>|/setsockopt SOCKET,LEVEL,OPTNAME,OPTVAL>,
486 L<C<shmctl>|/shmctl ID,CMD,ARG>, L<C<shmget>|/shmget KEY,SIZE,FLAGS>,
487 L<C<shmread>|/shmread ID,VAR,POS,SIZE>,
488 L<C<shmwrite>|/shmwrite ID,STRING,POS,SIZE>,
489 L<C<socket>|/socket SOCKET,DOMAIN,TYPE,PROTOCOL>,
490 L<C<socketpair>|/socketpair SOCKET1,SOCKET2,DOMAIN,TYPE,PROTOCOL>,
491 L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE>, L<C<symlink>|/symlink OLDFILE,NEWFILE>,
492 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST>,
493 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE>,
494 L<C<system>|/system LIST>, L<C<times>|/times>,
495 L<C<truncate>|/truncate FILEHANDLE,LENGTH>, L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR>,
496 L<C<unlink>|/unlink LIST>, L<C<utime>|/utime LIST>, L<C<wait>|/wait>,
497 L<C<waitpid>|/waitpid PID,FLAGS>
499 For more information about the portability of these functions, see
500 L<perlport> and other available platform-specific documentation.
502 =head2 Alphabetical Listing of Perl Functions
507 X<-r>X<-w>X<-x>X<-o>X<-R>X<-W>X<-X>X<-O>X<-e>X<-z>X<-s>X<-f>X<-d>X<-l>X<-p>
508 X<-S>X<-b>X<-c>X<-t>X<-u>X<-g>X<-k>X<-T>X<-B>X<-M>X<-A>X<-C>
516 =for Pod::Functions a file test (-r, -x, etc)
518 A file test, where X is one of the letters listed below. This unary
519 operator takes one argument, either a filename, a filehandle, or a dirhandle,
520 and tests the associated file to see if something is true about it. If the
521 argument is omitted, tests L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>, except for C<-t>, which
522 tests STDIN. Unless otherwise documented, it returns C<1> for true and
523 C<''> for false. If the file doesn't exist or can't be examined, it
524 returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> and sets L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> (errno).
525 With the exception of the C<-l> test they all follow symbolic links
526 because they use C<stat()> and not C<lstat()> (so dangling symlinks can't
527 be examined and will therefore report failure).
529 Despite the funny names, precedence is the same as any other named unary
530 operator. The operator may be any of:
532 -r File is readable by effective uid/gid.
533 -w File is writable by effective uid/gid.
534 -x File is executable by effective uid/gid.
535 -o File is owned by effective uid.
537 -R File is readable by real uid/gid.
538 -W File is writable by real uid/gid.
539 -X File is executable by real uid/gid.
540 -O File is owned by real uid.
543 -z File has zero size (is empty).
544 -s File has nonzero size (returns size in bytes).
546 -f File is a plain file.
547 -d File is a directory.
548 -l File is a symbolic link (false if symlinks aren't
549 supported by the file system).
550 -p File is a named pipe (FIFO), or Filehandle is a pipe.
552 -b File is a block special file.
553 -c File is a character special file.
554 -t Filehandle is opened to a tty.
556 -u File has setuid bit set.
557 -g File has setgid bit set.
558 -k File has sticky bit set.
560 -T File is an ASCII or UTF-8 text file (heuristic guess).
561 -B File is a "binary" file (opposite of -T).
563 -M Script start time minus file modification time, in days.
564 -A Same for access time.
565 -C Same for inode change time (Unix, may differ for other
572 next unless -f $_; # ignore specials
576 Note that C<-s/a/b/> does not do a negated substitution. Saying
577 C<-exp($foo)> still works as expected, however: only single letters
578 following a minus are interpreted as file tests.
580 These operators are exempt from the "looks like a function rule" described
581 above. That is, an opening parenthesis after the operator does not affect
582 how much of the following code constitutes the argument. Put the opening
583 parentheses before the operator to separate it from code that follows (this
584 applies only to operators with higher precedence than unary operators, of
587 -s($file) + 1024 # probably wrong; same as -s($file + 1024)
588 (-s $file) + 1024 # correct
590 The interpretation of the file permission operators C<-r>, C<-R>,
591 C<-w>, C<-W>, C<-x>, and C<-X> is by default based solely on the mode
592 of the file and the uids and gids of the user. There may be other
593 reasons you can't actually read, write, or execute the file: for
594 example network filesystem access controls, ACLs (access control lists),
595 read-only filesystems, and unrecognized executable formats. Note
596 that the use of these six specific operators to verify if some operation
597 is possible is usually a mistake, because it may be open to race
600 Also note that, for the superuser on the local filesystems, the C<-r>,
601 C<-R>, C<-w>, and C<-W> tests always return 1, and C<-x> and C<-X> return 1
602 if any execute bit is set in the mode. Scripts run by the superuser
603 may thus need to do a L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE> to determine the
604 actual mode of the file, or temporarily set their effective uid to
607 If you are using ACLs, there is a pragma called L<C<filetest>|filetest>
608 that may produce more accurate results than the bare
609 L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE> mode bits.
610 When under C<use filetest 'access'>, the above-mentioned filetests
611 test whether the permission can(not) be granted using the L<access(2)>
612 family of system calls. Also note that the C<-x> and C<-X> tests may
613 under this pragma return true even if there are no execute permission
614 bits set (nor any extra execute permission ACLs). This strangeness is
615 due to the underlying system calls' definitions. Note also that, due to
616 the implementation of C<use filetest 'access'>, the C<_> special
617 filehandle won't cache the results of the file tests when this pragma is
618 in effect. Read the documentation for the L<C<filetest>|filetest>
619 pragma for more information.
621 The C<-T> and C<-B> tests work as follows. The first block or so of
622 the file is examined to see if it is valid UTF-8 that includes non-ASCII
623 characters. If so, it's a C<-T> file. Otherwise, that same portion of
624 the file is examined for odd characters such as strange control codes or
625 characters with the high bit set. If more than a third of the
626 characters are strange, it's a C<-B> file; otherwise it's a C<-T> file.
627 Also, any file containing a zero byte in the examined portion is
628 considered a binary file. (If executed within the scope of a L<S<use
629 locale>|perllocale> which includes C<LC_CTYPE>, odd characters are
630 anything that isn't a printable nor space in the current locale.) If
631 C<-T> or C<-B> is used on a filehandle, the current IO buffer is
633 rather than the first block. Both C<-T> and C<-B> return true on an empty
634 file, or a file at EOF when testing a filehandle. Because you have to
635 read a file to do the C<-T> test, on most occasions you want to use a C<-f>
636 against the file first, as in C<next unless -f $file && -T $file>.
638 If any of the file tests (or either the L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE> or
639 L<C<lstat>|/lstat FILEHANDLE> operator) is given the special filehandle
640 consisting of a solitary underline, then the stat structure of the
641 previous file test (or L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE> operator) is used,
642 saving a system call. (This doesn't work with C<-t>, and you need to
643 remember that L<C<lstat>|/lstat FILEHANDLE> and C<-l> leave values in
644 the stat structure for the symbolic link, not the real file.) (Also, if
645 the stat buffer was filled by an L<C<lstat>|/lstat FILEHANDLE> call,
646 C<-T> and C<-B> will reset it with the results of C<stat _>).
649 print "Can do.\n" if -r $a || -w _ || -x _;
652 print "Readable\n" if -r _;
653 print "Writable\n" if -w _;
654 print "Executable\n" if -x _;
655 print "Setuid\n" if -u _;
656 print "Setgid\n" if -g _;
657 print "Sticky\n" if -k _;
658 print "Text\n" if -T _;
659 print "Binary\n" if -B _;
661 As of Perl 5.10.0, as a form of purely syntactic sugar, you can stack file
662 test operators, in a way that C<-f -w -x $file> is equivalent to
663 C<-x $file && -w _ && -f _>. (This is only fancy syntax: if you use
664 the return value of C<-f $file> as an argument to another filetest
665 operator, no special magic will happen.)
667 Portability issues: L<perlport/-X>.
669 To avoid confusing would-be users of your code with mysterious
670 syntax errors, put something like this at the top of your script:
672 use 5.010; # so filetest ops can stack
679 =for Pod::Functions absolute value function
681 Returns the absolute value of its argument.
682 If VALUE is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
684 =item accept NEWSOCKET,GENERICSOCKET
687 =for Pod::Functions accept an incoming socket connect
689 Accepts an incoming socket connect, just as L<accept(2)>
690 does. Returns the packed address if it succeeded, false otherwise.
691 See the example in L<perlipc/"Sockets: Client/Server Communication">.
693 On systems that support a close-on-exec flag on files, the flag will
694 be set for the newly opened file descriptor, as determined by the
695 value of L<C<$^F>|perlvar/$^F>. See L<perlvar/$^F>.
704 =for Pod::Functions schedule a SIGALRM
706 Arranges to have a SIGALRM delivered to this process after the
707 specified number of wallclock seconds has elapsed. If SECONDS is not
708 specified, the value stored in L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> is used. (On some
709 machines, unfortunately, the elapsed time may be up to one second less
710 or more than you specified because of how seconds are counted, and
711 process scheduling may delay the delivery of the signal even further.)
713 Only one timer may be counting at once. Each call disables the
714 previous timer, and an argument of C<0> may be supplied to cancel the
715 previous timer without starting a new one. The returned value is the
716 amount of time remaining on the previous timer.
718 For delays of finer granularity than one second, the L<Time::HiRes> module
719 (from CPAN, and starting from Perl 5.8 part of the standard
720 distribution) provides
721 L<C<ualarm>|Time::HiRes/ualarm ( $useconds [, $interval_useconds ] )>.
722 You may also use Perl's four-argument version of
723 L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT> leaving the first three
724 arguments undefined, or you might be able to use the
725 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST> interface to access L<setitimer(2)>
726 if your system supports it. See L<perlfaq8> for details.
728 It is usually a mistake to intermix L<C<alarm>|/alarm SECONDS> and
729 L<C<sleep>|/sleep EXPR> calls, because L<C<sleep>|/sleep EXPR> may be
730 internally implemented on your system with L<C<alarm>|/alarm SECONDS>.
732 If you want to use L<C<alarm>|/alarm SECONDS> to time out a system call
733 you need to use an L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>/L<C<die>|/die LIST> pair. You
734 can't rely on the alarm causing the system call to fail with
735 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> set to C<EINTR> because Perl sets up signal handlers
736 to restart system calls on some systems. Using
737 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>/L<C<die>|/die LIST> always works, modulo the
738 caveats given in L<perlipc/"Signals">.
741 local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "alarm\n" }; # NB: \n required
743 my $nread = sysread $socket, $buffer, $size;
747 die unless $@ eq "alarm\n"; # propagate unexpected errors
754 For more information see L<perlipc>.
756 Portability issues: L<perlport/alarm>.
759 X<atan2> X<arctangent> X<tan> X<tangent>
761 =for Pod::Functions arctangent of Y/X in the range -PI to PI
763 Returns the arctangent of Y/X in the range -PI to PI.
765 For the tangent operation, you may use the
766 L<C<Math::Trig::tan>|Math::Trig/B<tan>> function, or use the familiar
769 sub tan { sin($_[0]) / cos($_[0]) }
771 The return value for C<atan2(0,0)> is implementation-defined; consult
772 your L<atan2(3)> manpage for more information.
774 Portability issues: L<perlport/atan2>.
776 =item bind SOCKET,NAME
779 =for Pod::Functions binds an address to a socket
781 Binds a network address to a socket, just as L<bind(2)>
782 does. Returns true if it succeeded, false otherwise. NAME should be a
783 packed address of the appropriate type for the socket. See the examples in
784 L<perlipc/"Sockets: Client/Server Communication">.
786 =item binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER
787 X<binmode> X<binary> X<text> X<DOS> X<Windows>
789 =item binmode FILEHANDLE
791 =for Pod::Functions prepare binary files for I/O
793 Arranges for FILEHANDLE to be read or written in "binary" or "text"
794 mode on systems where the run-time libraries distinguish between
795 binary and text files. If FILEHANDLE is an expression, the value is
796 taken as the name of the filehandle. Returns true on success,
797 otherwise it returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> and sets
798 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> (errno).
800 On some systems (in general, DOS- and Windows-based systems)
801 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER> is necessary when you're not
802 working with a text file. For the sake of portability it is a good idea
803 always to use it when appropriate, and never to use it when it isn't
804 appropriate. Also, people can set their I/O to be by default
805 UTF8-encoded Unicode, not bytes.
807 In other words: regardless of platform, use
808 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER> on binary data, like images,
811 If LAYER is present it is a single string, but may contain multiple
812 directives. The directives alter the behaviour of the filehandle.
813 When LAYER is present, using binmode on a text file makes sense.
815 If LAYER is omitted or specified as C<:raw> the filehandle is made
816 suitable for passing binary data. This includes turning off possible CRLF
817 translation and marking it as bytes (as opposed to Unicode characters).
818 Note that, despite what may be implied in I<"Programming Perl"> (the
819 Camel, 3rd edition) or elsewhere, C<:raw> is I<not> simply the inverse of C<:crlf>.
820 Other layers that would affect the binary nature of the stream are
821 I<also> disabled. See L<PerlIO>, and the discussion about the PERLIO
822 environment variable in L<perlrun|perlrun/PERLIO>.
824 The C<:bytes>, C<:crlf>, C<:utf8>, and any other directives of the
825 form C<:...>, are called I/O I<layers>. The L<open> pragma can be used to
826 establish default I/O layers.
828 I<The LAYER parameter of the L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>
829 function is described as "DISCIPLINE" in "Programming Perl, 3rd
830 Edition". However, since the publishing of this book, by many known as
831 "Camel III", the consensus of the naming of this functionality has moved
832 from "discipline" to "layer". All documentation of this version of Perl
833 therefore refers to "layers" rather than to "disciplines". Now back to
834 the regularly scheduled documentation...>
836 To mark FILEHANDLE as UTF-8, use C<:utf8> or C<:encoding(UTF-8)>.
837 C<:utf8> just marks the data as UTF-8 without further checking,
838 while C<:encoding(UTF-8)> checks the data for actually being valid
839 UTF-8. More details can be found in L<PerlIO::encoding>.
841 In general, L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER> should be called
842 after L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> but before any I/O is done on the
843 filehandle. Calling L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER> normally
844 flushes any pending buffered output data (and perhaps pending input
845 data) on the handle. An exception to this is the C<:encoding> layer
846 that changes the default character encoding of the handle.
847 The C<:encoding> layer sometimes needs to be called in
848 mid-stream, and it doesn't flush the stream. C<:encoding>
849 also implicitly pushes on top of itself the C<:utf8> layer because
850 internally Perl operates on UTF8-encoded Unicode characters.
852 The operating system, device drivers, C libraries, and Perl run-time
853 system all conspire to let the programmer treat a single
854 character (C<\n>) as the line terminator, irrespective of external
855 representation. On many operating systems, the native text file
856 representation matches the internal representation, but on some
857 platforms the external representation of C<\n> is made up of more than
860 All variants of Unix, Mac OS (old and new), and Stream_LF files on VMS use
861 a single character to end each line in the external representation of text
862 (even though that single character is CARRIAGE RETURN on old, pre-Darwin
863 flavors of Mac OS, and is LINE FEED on Unix and most VMS files). In other
864 systems like OS/2, DOS, and the various flavors of MS-Windows, your program
865 sees a C<\n> as a simple C<\cJ>, but what's stored in text files are the
866 two characters C<\cM\cJ>. That means that if you don't use
867 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER> on these systems, C<\cM\cJ>
868 sequences on disk will be converted to C<\n> on input, and any C<\n> in
869 your program will be converted back to C<\cM\cJ> on output. This is
870 what you want for text files, but it can be disastrous for binary files.
872 Another consequence of using L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>
873 (on some systems) is that special end-of-file markers will be seen as
874 part of the data stream. For systems from the Microsoft family this
875 means that, if your binary data contain C<\cZ>, the I/O subsystem will
876 regard it as the end of the file, unless you use
877 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>.
879 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER> is important not only for
880 L<C<readline>|/readline EXPR> and L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST>
881 operations, but also when using
882 L<C<read>|/read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
883 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
884 L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
885 L<C<syswrite>|/syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET> and
886 L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE> (see L<perlport> for more details). See the
887 L<C<$E<sol>>|perlvar/$E<sol>> and L<C<$\>|perlvar/$\> variables in
888 L<perlvar> for how to manually set your input and output
889 line-termination sequences.
891 Portability issues: L<perlport/binmode>.
893 =item bless REF,CLASSNAME
898 =for Pod::Functions create an object
900 This function tells the thingy referenced by REF that it is now an object
901 in the CLASSNAME package. If CLASSNAME is an empty string, it is
902 interpreted as referring to the C<main> package.
903 If CLASSNAME is omitted, the current package
904 is used. Because a L<C<bless>|/bless REF,CLASSNAME> is often the last
905 thing in a constructor, it returns the reference for convenience.
906 Always use the two-argument version if a derived class might inherit the
907 method doing the blessing. See L<perlobj> for more about the blessing
908 (and blessings) of objects.
910 Consider always blessing objects in CLASSNAMEs that are mixed case.
911 Namespaces with all lowercase names are considered reserved for
912 Perl pragmas. Builtin types have all uppercase names. To prevent
913 confusion, you may wish to avoid such package names as well.
914 It is advised to avoid the class name C<0>, because much code erroneously
915 uses the result of L<C<ref>|/ref EXPR> as a truth value.
917 See L<perlmod/"Perl Modules">.
921 =for Pod::Functions +switch break out of a C<given> block
923 Break out of a C<given> block.
925 L<C<break>|/break> is available only if the
926 L<C<"switch"> feature|feature/The 'switch' feature> is enabled or if it
927 is prefixed with C<CORE::>. The
928 L<C<"switch"> feature|feature/The 'switch' feature> is enabled
929 automatically with a C<use v5.10> (or higher) declaration in the current
933 X<caller> X<call stack> X<stack> X<stack trace>
937 =for Pod::Functions get context of the current subroutine call
939 Returns the context of the current pure perl subroutine call. In scalar
940 context, returns the caller's package name if there I<is> a caller (that is, if
941 we're in a subroutine or L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR> or
942 L<C<require>|/require VERSION>) and the undefined value otherwise.
943 caller never returns XS subs and they are skipped. The next pure perl
944 sub will appear instead of the XS sub in caller's return values. In
945 list context, caller returns
948 my ($package, $filename, $line) = caller;
950 Like L<C<__FILE__>|/__FILE__> and L<C<__LINE__>|/__LINE__>, the filename and
951 line number returned here may be altered by the mechanism described at
952 L<perlsyn/"Plain Old Comments (Not!)">.
954 With EXPR, it returns some extra information that the debugger uses to
955 print a stack trace. The value of EXPR indicates how many call frames
956 to go back before the current one.
959 my ($package, $filename, $line, $subroutine, $hasargs,
962 $wantarray, $evaltext, $is_require, $hints, $bitmask, $hinthash)
965 Here, $subroutine is the function that the caller called (rather than the
966 function containing the caller). Note that $subroutine may be C<(eval)> if
967 the frame is not a subroutine call, but an L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>. In
968 such a case additional elements $evaltext and C<$is_require> are set:
969 C<$is_require> is true if the frame is created by a
970 L<C<require>|/require VERSION> or L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>
971 statement, $evaltext contains the text of the C<eval EXPR> statement.
972 In particular, for an C<eval BLOCK> statement, $subroutine is C<(eval)>,
973 but $evaltext is undefined. (Note also that each
974 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> statement creates a
975 L<C<require>|/require VERSION> frame inside an C<eval EXPR> frame.)
976 $subroutine may also be C<(unknown)> if this particular subroutine
977 happens to have been deleted from the symbol table. C<$hasargs> is true
978 if a new instance of L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_> was set up for the frame.
979 C<$hints> and C<$bitmask> contain pragmatic hints that the caller was
980 compiled with. C<$hints> corresponds to L<C<$^H>|perlvar/$^H>, and
981 C<$bitmask> corresponds to
982 L<C<${^WARNING_BITS}>|perlvar/${^WARNING_BITS}>. The C<$hints> and
983 C<$bitmask> values are subject to change between versions of Perl, and
984 are not meant for external use.
986 C<$hinthash> is a reference to a hash containing the value of
987 L<C<%^H>|perlvar/%^H> when the caller was compiled, or
988 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> if L<C<%^H>|perlvar/%^H> was empty. Do not
989 modify the values of this hash, as they are the actual values stored in
992 Furthermore, when called from within the DB package in
993 list context, and with an argument, caller returns more
994 detailed information: it sets the list variable C<@DB::args> to be the
995 arguments with which the subroutine was invoked.
997 Be aware that the optimizer might have optimized call frames away before
998 L<C<caller>|/caller EXPR> had a chance to get the information. That
999 means that C<caller(N)> might not return information about the call
1000 frame you expect it to, for C<< N > 1 >>. In particular, C<@DB::args>
1001 might have information from the previous time L<C<caller>|/caller EXPR>
1004 Be aware that setting C<@DB::args> is I<best effort>, intended for
1005 debugging or generating backtraces, and should not be relied upon. In
1006 particular, as L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_> contains aliases to the caller's
1007 arguments, Perl does not take a copy of L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_>, so
1008 C<@DB::args> will contain modifications the subroutine makes to
1009 L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_> or its contents, not the original values at call
1010 time. C<@DB::args>, like L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_>, does not hold explicit
1011 references to its elements, so under certain cases its elements may have
1012 become freed and reallocated for other variables or temporary values.
1013 Finally, a side effect of the current implementation is that the effects
1014 of C<shift @_> can I<normally> be undone (but not C<pop @_> or other
1015 splicing, I<and> not if a reference to L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_> has been
1016 taken, I<and> subject to the caveat about reallocated elements), so
1017 C<@DB::args> is actually a hybrid of the current state and initial state
1018 of L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_>. Buyer beware.
1023 X<directory, change>
1025 =item chdir FILEHANDLE
1027 =item chdir DIRHANDLE
1031 =for Pod::Functions change your current working directory
1033 Changes the working directory to EXPR, if possible. If EXPR is omitted,
1034 changes to the directory specified by C<$ENV{HOME}>, if set; if not,
1035 changes to the directory specified by C<$ENV{LOGDIR}>. (Under VMS, the
1036 variable C<$ENV{'SYS$LOGIN'}> is also checked, and used if it is set.) If
1037 neither is set, L<C<chdir>|/chdir EXPR> does nothing and fails. It
1038 returns true on success, false otherwise. See the example under
1039 L<C<die>|/die LIST>.
1041 On systems that support L<fchdir(2)>, you may pass a filehandle or
1042 directory handle as the argument. On systems that don't support L<fchdir(2)>,
1043 passing handles raises an exception.
1046 X<chmod> X<permission> X<mode>
1048 =for Pod::Functions changes the permissions on a list of files
1050 Changes the permissions of a list of files. The first element of the
1051 list must be the numeric mode, which should probably be an octal
1052 number, and which definitely should I<not> be a string of octal digits:
1053 C<0644> is okay, but C<"0644"> is not. Returns the number of files
1054 successfully changed. See also L<C<oct>|/oct EXPR> if all you have is a
1057 my $cnt = chmod 0755, "foo", "bar";
1058 chmod 0755, @executables;
1059 my $mode = "0644"; chmod $mode, "foo"; # !!! sets mode to
1061 my $mode = "0644"; chmod oct($mode), "foo"; # this is better
1062 my $mode = 0644; chmod $mode, "foo"; # this is best
1064 On systems that support L<fchmod(2)>, you may pass filehandles among the
1065 files. On systems that don't support L<fchmod(2)>, passing filehandles raises
1066 an exception. Filehandles must be passed as globs or glob references to be
1067 recognized; barewords are considered filenames.
1069 open(my $fh, "<", "foo");
1070 my $perm = (stat $fh)[2] & 07777;
1071 chmod($perm | 0600, $fh);
1073 You can also import the symbolic C<S_I*> constants from the
1074 L<C<Fcntl>|Fcntl> module:
1076 use Fcntl qw( :mode );
1077 chmod S_IRWXU|S_IRGRP|S_IXGRP|S_IROTH|S_IXOTH, @executables;
1078 # Identical to the chmod 0755 of the example above.
1080 Portability issues: L<perlport/chmod>.
1082 =item chomp VARIABLE
1083 X<chomp> X<INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR> X<$/> X<newline> X<eol>
1089 =for Pod::Functions remove a trailing record separator from a string
1091 This safer version of L<C<chop>|/chop VARIABLE> removes any trailing
1092 string that corresponds to the current value of
1093 L<C<$E<sol>>|perlvar/$E<sol>> (also known as C<$INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR>
1094 in the L<C<English>|English> module). It returns the total
1095 number of characters removed from all its arguments. It's often used to
1096 remove the newline from the end of an input record when you're worried
1097 that the final record may be missing its newline. When in paragraph
1098 mode (C<$/ = ''>), it removes all trailing newlines from the string.
1099 When in slurp mode (C<$/ = undef>) or fixed-length record mode
1100 (L<C<$E<sol>>|perlvar/$E<sol>> is a reference to an integer or the like;
1101 see L<perlvar>), L<C<chomp>|/chomp VARIABLE> won't remove anything.
1102 If VARIABLE is omitted, it chomps L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>. Example:
1105 chomp; # avoid \n on last field
1106 my @array = split(/:/);
1110 If VARIABLE is a hash, it chomps the hash's values, but not its keys,
1111 resetting the L<C<each>|/each HASH> iterator in the process.
1113 You can actually chomp anything that's an lvalue, including an assignment:
1115 chomp(my $cwd = `pwd`);
1116 chomp(my $answer = <STDIN>);
1118 If you chomp a list, each element is chomped, and the total number of
1119 characters removed is returned.
1121 Note that parentheses are necessary when you're chomping anything
1122 that is not a simple variable. This is because C<chomp $cwd = `pwd`;>
1123 is interpreted as C<(chomp $cwd) = `pwd`;>, rather than as
1124 C<chomp( $cwd = `pwd` )> which you might expect. Similarly,
1125 C<chomp $a, $b> is interpreted as C<chomp($a), $b> rather than
1126 as C<chomp($a, $b)>.
1135 =for Pod::Functions remove the last character from a string
1137 Chops off the last character of a string and returns the character
1138 chopped. It is much more efficient than C<s/.$//s> because it neither
1139 scans nor copies the string. If VARIABLE is omitted, chops
1140 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
1141 If VARIABLE is a hash, it chops the hash's values, but not its keys,
1142 resetting the L<C<each>|/each HASH> iterator in the process.
1144 You can actually chop anything that's an lvalue, including an assignment.
1146 If you chop a list, each element is chopped. Only the value of the
1147 last L<C<chop>|/chop VARIABLE> is returned.
1149 Note that L<C<chop>|/chop VARIABLE> returns the last character. To
1150 return all but the last character, use C<substr($string, 0, -1)>.
1152 See also L<C<chomp>|/chomp VARIABLE>.
1155 X<chown> X<owner> X<user> X<group>
1157 =for Pod::Functions change the ownership on a list of files
1159 Changes the owner (and group) of a list of files. The first two
1160 elements of the list must be the I<numeric> uid and gid, in that
1161 order. A value of -1 in either position is interpreted by most
1162 systems to leave that value unchanged. Returns the number of files
1163 successfully changed.
1165 my $cnt = chown $uid, $gid, 'foo', 'bar';
1166 chown $uid, $gid, @filenames;
1168 On systems that support L<fchown(2)>, you may pass filehandles among the
1169 files. On systems that don't support L<fchown(2)>, passing filehandles raises
1170 an exception. Filehandles must be passed as globs or glob references to be
1171 recognized; barewords are considered filenames.
1173 Here's an example that looks up nonnumeric uids in the passwd file:
1176 chomp(my $user = <STDIN>);
1178 chomp(my $pattern = <STDIN>);
1180 my ($login,$pass,$uid,$gid) = getpwnam($user)
1181 or die "$user not in passwd file";
1183 my @ary = glob($pattern); # expand filenames
1184 chown $uid, $gid, @ary;
1186 On most systems, you are not allowed to change the ownership of the
1187 file unless you're the superuser, although you should be able to change
1188 the group to any of your secondary groups. On insecure systems, these
1189 restrictions may be relaxed, but this is not a portable assumption.
1190 On POSIX systems, you can detect this condition this way:
1192 use POSIX qw(sysconf _PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED);
1193 my $can_chown_giveaway = ! sysconf(_PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED);
1195 Portability issues: L<perlport/chown>.
1198 X<chr> X<character> X<ASCII> X<Unicode>
1202 =for Pod::Functions get character this number represents
1204 Returns the character represented by that NUMBER in the character set.
1205 For example, C<chr(65)> is C<"A"> in either ASCII or Unicode, and
1206 chr(0x263a) is a Unicode smiley face.
1208 Negative values give the Unicode replacement character (chr(0xfffd)),
1209 except under the L<bytes> pragma, where the low eight bits of the value
1210 (truncated to an integer) are used.
1212 If NUMBER is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
1214 For the reverse, use L<C<ord>|/ord EXPR>.
1216 Note that characters from 128 to 255 (inclusive) are by default
1217 internally not encoded as UTF-8 for backward compatibility reasons.
1219 See L<perlunicode> for more about Unicode.
1221 =item chroot FILENAME
1226 =for Pod::Functions make directory new root for path lookups
1228 This function works like the system call by the same name: it makes the
1229 named directory the new root directory for all further pathnames that
1230 begin with a C</> by your process and all its children. (It doesn't
1231 change your current working directory, which is unaffected.) For security
1232 reasons, this call is restricted to the superuser. If FILENAME is
1233 omitted, does a L<C<chroot>|/chroot FILENAME> to L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
1235 B<NOTE:> It is mandatory for security to C<chdir("/")>
1236 (L<C<chdir>|/chdir EXPR> to the root directory) immediately after a
1237 L<C<chroot>|/chroot FILENAME>, otherwise the current working directory
1238 may be outside of the new root.
1240 Portability issues: L<perlport/chroot>.
1242 =item close FILEHANDLE
1247 =for Pod::Functions close file (or pipe or socket) handle
1249 Closes the file or pipe associated with the filehandle, flushes the IO
1250 buffers, and closes the system file descriptor. Returns true if those
1251 operations succeed and if no error was reported by any PerlIO
1252 layer. Closes the currently selected filehandle if the argument is
1255 You don't have to close FILEHANDLE if you are immediately going to do
1256 another L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> on it, because
1257 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> closes it for you. (See
1258 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>.) However, an explicit
1259 L<C<close>|/close FILEHANDLE> on an input file resets the line counter
1260 (L<C<$.>|perlvar/$.>), while the implicit close done by
1261 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> does not.
1263 If the filehandle came from a piped open, L<C<close>|/close FILEHANDLE>
1264 returns false if one of the other syscalls involved fails or if its
1265 program exits with non-zero status. If the only problem was that the
1266 program exited non-zero, L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> will be set to C<0>.
1267 Closing a pipe also waits for the process executing on the pipe to
1268 exit--in case you wish to look at the output of the pipe afterwards--and
1269 implicitly puts the exit status value of that command into
1270 L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> and
1271 L<C<${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>|perlvar/${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>.
1273 If there are multiple threads running, L<C<close>|/close FILEHANDLE> on
1274 a filehandle from a piped open returns true without waiting for the
1275 child process to terminate, if the filehandle is still open in another
1278 Closing the read end of a pipe before the process writing to it at the
1279 other end is done writing results in the writer receiving a SIGPIPE. If
1280 the other end can't handle that, be sure to read all the data before
1285 open(OUTPUT, '|sort >foo') # pipe to sort
1286 or die "Can't start sort: $!";
1287 #... # print stuff to output
1288 close OUTPUT # wait for sort to finish
1289 or warn $! ? "Error closing sort pipe: $!"
1290 : "Exit status $? from sort";
1291 open(INPUT, 'foo') # get sort's results
1292 or die "Can't open 'foo' for input: $!";
1294 FILEHANDLE may be an expression whose value can be used as an indirect
1295 filehandle, usually the real filehandle name or an autovivified handle.
1297 =item closedir DIRHANDLE
1300 =for Pod::Functions close directory handle
1302 Closes a directory opened by L<C<opendir>|/opendir DIRHANDLE,EXPR> and
1303 returns the success of that system call.
1305 =item connect SOCKET,NAME
1308 =for Pod::Functions connect to a remote socket
1310 Attempts to connect to a remote socket, just like L<connect(2)>.
1311 Returns true if it succeeded, false otherwise. NAME should be a
1312 packed address of the appropriate type for the socket. See the examples in
1313 L<perlipc/"Sockets: Client/Server Communication">.
1315 =item continue BLOCK
1320 =for Pod::Functions optional trailing block in a while or foreach
1322 When followed by a BLOCK, L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> is actually a
1323 flow control statement rather than a function. If there is a
1324 L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> BLOCK attached to a BLOCK (typically in a
1325 C<while> or C<foreach>), it is always executed just before the
1326 conditional is about to be evaluated again, just like the third part of
1327 a C<for> loop in C. Thus it can be used to increment a loop variable,
1328 even when the loop has been continued via the L<C<next>|/next LABEL>
1329 statement (which is similar to the C L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK>
1332 L<C<last>|/last LABEL>, L<C<next>|/next LABEL>, or
1333 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> may appear within a
1334 L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> block; L<C<last>|/last LABEL> and
1335 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> behave as if they had been executed within the
1336 main block. So will L<C<next>|/next LABEL>, but since it will execute a
1337 L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> block, it may be more entertaining.
1340 ### redo always comes here
1343 ### next always comes here
1345 # then back the top to re-check EXPR
1347 ### last always comes here
1349 Omitting the L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> section is equivalent to
1350 using an empty one, logically enough, so L<C<next>|/next LABEL> goes
1351 directly back to check the condition at the top of the loop.
1353 When there is no BLOCK, L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> is a function
1354 that falls through the current C<when> or C<default> block instead of
1355 iterating a dynamically enclosing C<foreach> or exiting a lexically
1356 enclosing C<given>. In Perl 5.14 and earlier, this form of
1357 L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> was only available when the
1358 L<C<"switch"> feature|feature/The 'switch' feature> was enabled. See
1359 L<feature> and L<perlsyn/"Switch Statements"> for more information.
1362 X<cos> X<cosine> X<acos> X<arccosine>
1366 =for Pod::Functions cosine function
1368 Returns the cosine of EXPR (expressed in radians). If EXPR is omitted,
1369 takes the cosine of L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
1371 For the inverse cosine operation, you may use the
1372 L<C<Math::Trig::acos>|Math::Trig> function, or use this relation:
1374 sub acos { atan2( sqrt(1 - $_[0] * $_[0]), $_[0] ) }
1376 =item crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT
1377 X<crypt> X<digest> X<hash> X<salt> X<plaintext> X<password>
1378 X<decrypt> X<cryptography> X<passwd> X<encrypt>
1380 =for Pod::Functions one-way passwd-style encryption
1382 Creates a digest string exactly like the L<crypt(3)> function in the C
1383 library (assuming that you actually have a version there that has not
1384 been extirpated as a potential munition).
1386 L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT> is a one-way hash function. The
1387 PLAINTEXT and SALT are turned
1388 into a short string, called a digest, which is returned. The same
1389 PLAINTEXT and SALT will always return the same string, but there is no
1390 (known) way to get the original PLAINTEXT from the hash. Small
1391 changes in the PLAINTEXT or SALT will result in large changes in the
1394 There is no decrypt function. This function isn't all that useful for
1395 cryptography (for that, look for F<Crypt> modules on your nearby CPAN
1396 mirror) and the name "crypt" is a bit of a misnomer. Instead it is
1397 primarily used to check if two pieces of text are the same without
1398 having to transmit or store the text itself. An example is checking
1399 if a correct password is given. The digest of the password is stored,
1400 not the password itself. The user types in a password that is
1401 L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT>'d with the same salt as the stored
1402 digest. If the two digests match, the password is correct.
1404 When verifying an existing digest string you should use the digest as
1405 the salt (like C<crypt($plain, $digest) eq $digest>). The SALT used
1406 to create the digest is visible as part of the digest. This ensures
1407 L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT> will hash the new string with the same
1408 salt as the digest. This allows your code to work with the standard
1409 L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT> and with more exotic implementations.
1410 In other words, assume nothing about the returned string itself nor
1411 about how many bytes of SALT may matter.
1413 Traditionally the result is a string of 13 bytes: two first bytes of
1414 the salt, followed by 11 bytes from the set C<[./0-9A-Za-z]>, and only
1415 the first eight bytes of PLAINTEXT mattered. But alternative
1416 hashing schemes (like MD5), higher level security schemes (like C2),
1417 and implementations on non-Unix platforms may produce different
1420 When choosing a new salt create a random two character string whose
1421 characters come from the set C<[./0-9A-Za-z]> (like C<join '', ('.',
1422 '/', 0..9, 'A'..'Z', 'a'..'z')[rand 64, rand 64]>). This set of
1423 characters is just a recommendation; the characters allowed in
1424 the salt depend solely on your system's crypt library, and Perl can't
1425 restrict what salts L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT> accepts.
1427 Here's an example that makes sure that whoever runs this program knows
1430 my $pwd = (getpwuid($<))[1];
1432 system "stty -echo";
1434 chomp(my $word = <STDIN>);
1438 if (crypt($word, $pwd) ne $pwd) {
1444 Of course, typing in your own password to whoever asks you
1447 The L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT> function is unsuitable for hashing
1448 large quantities of data, not least of all because you can't get the
1449 information back. Look at the L<Digest> module for more robust
1452 If using L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT> on a Unicode string (which
1453 I<potentially> has characters with codepoints above 255), Perl tries to
1454 make sense of the situation by trying to downgrade (a copy of) the
1455 string back to an eight-bit byte string before calling
1456 L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT> (on that copy). If that works, good.
1457 If not, L<C<crypt>|/crypt PLAINTEXT,SALT> dies with
1458 L<C<Wide character in crypt>|perldiag/Wide character in %s>.
1460 Portability issues: L<perlport/crypt>.
1465 =for Pod::Functions breaks binding on a tied dbm file
1467 [This function has been largely superseded by the
1468 L<C<untie>|/untie VARIABLE> function.]
1470 Breaks the binding between a DBM file and a hash.
1472 Portability issues: L<perlport/dbmclose>.
1474 =item dbmopen HASH,DBNAME,MASK
1475 X<dbmopen> X<dbm> X<ndbm> X<sdbm> X<gdbm>
1477 =for Pod::Functions create binding on a tied dbm file
1479 [This function has been largely superseded by the
1480 L<C<tie>|/tie VARIABLE,CLASSNAME,LIST> function.]
1482 This binds a L<dbm(3)>, L<ndbm(3)>, L<sdbm(3)>, L<gdbm(3)>, or Berkeley
1483 DB file to a hash. HASH is the name of the hash. (Unlike normal
1484 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>, the first argument is I<not> a
1485 filehandle, even though it looks like one). DBNAME is the name of the
1486 database (without the F<.dir> or F<.pag> extension if any). If the
1487 database does not exist, it is created with protection specified by MASK
1488 (as modified by the L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR>). To prevent creation of
1489 the database if it doesn't exist, you may specify a MODE of 0, and the
1490 function will return a false value if it can't find an existing
1491 database. If your system supports only the older DBM functions, you may
1492 make only one L<C<dbmopen>|/dbmopen HASH,DBNAME,MASK> call in your
1493 program. In older versions of Perl, if your system had neither DBM nor
1494 ndbm, calling L<C<dbmopen>|/dbmopen HASH,DBNAME,MASK> produced a fatal
1495 error; it now falls back to L<sdbm(3)>.
1497 If you don't have write access to the DBM file, you can only read hash
1498 variables, not set them. If you want to test whether you can write,
1499 either use file tests or try setting a dummy hash entry inside an
1500 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR> to trap the error.
1502 Note that functions such as L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> and
1503 L<C<values>|/values HASH> may return huge lists when used on large DBM
1504 files. You may prefer to use the L<C<each>|/each HASH> function to
1505 iterate over large DBM files. Example:
1507 # print out history file offsets
1508 dbmopen(%HIST,'/usr/lib/news/history',0666);
1509 while (($key,$val) = each %HIST) {
1510 print $key, ' = ', unpack('L',$val), "\n";
1514 See also L<AnyDBM_File> for a more general description of the pros and
1515 cons of the various dbm approaches, as well as L<DB_File> for a particularly
1516 rich implementation.
1518 You can control which DBM library you use by loading that library
1519 before you call L<C<dbmopen>|/dbmopen HASH,DBNAME,MASK>:
1522 dbmopen(%NS_Hist, "$ENV{HOME}/.netscape/history.db")
1523 or die "Can't open netscape history file: $!";
1525 Portability issues: L<perlport/dbmopen>.
1528 X<defined> X<undef> X<undefined>
1532 =for Pod::Functions test whether a value, variable, or function is defined
1534 Returns a Boolean value telling whether EXPR has a value other than the
1535 undefined value L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>. If EXPR is not present,
1536 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> is checked.
1538 Many operations return L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> to indicate failure, end
1539 of file, system error, uninitialized variable, and other exceptional
1540 conditions. This function allows you to distinguish
1541 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> from other values. (A simple Boolean test will
1542 not distinguish among L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>, zero, the empty string,
1543 and C<"0">, which are all equally false.) Note that since
1544 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> is a valid scalar, its presence doesn't
1545 I<necessarily> indicate an exceptional condition: L<C<pop>|/pop ARRAY>
1546 returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> when its argument is an empty array,
1547 I<or> when the element to return happens to be L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>.
1549 You may also use C<defined(&func)> to check whether subroutine C<func>
1550 has ever been defined. The return value is unaffected by any forward
1551 declarations of C<func>. A subroutine that is not defined
1552 may still be callable: its package may have an C<AUTOLOAD> method that
1553 makes it spring into existence the first time that it is called; see
1556 Use of L<C<defined>|/defined EXPR> on aggregates (hashes and arrays) is
1557 no longer supported. It used to report whether memory for that
1558 aggregate had ever been allocated. You should instead use a simple
1561 if (@an_array) { print "has array elements\n" }
1562 if (%a_hash) { print "has hash members\n" }
1564 When used on a hash element, it tells you whether the value is defined,
1565 not whether the key exists in the hash. Use L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR>
1566 for the latter purpose.
1570 print if defined $switch{D};
1571 print "$val\n" while defined($val = pop(@ary));
1572 die "Can't readlink $sym: $!"
1573 unless defined($value = readlink $sym);
1574 sub foo { defined &$bar ? $bar->(@_) : die "No bar"; }
1575 $debugging = 0 unless defined $debugging;
1577 Note: Many folks tend to overuse L<C<defined>|/defined EXPR> and are
1578 then surprised to discover that the number C<0> and C<""> (the
1579 zero-length string) are, in fact, defined values. For example, if you
1584 The pattern match succeeds and C<$1> is defined, although it
1585 matched "nothing". It didn't really fail to match anything. Rather, it
1586 matched something that happened to be zero characters long. This is all
1587 very above-board and honest. When a function returns an undefined value,
1588 it's an admission that it couldn't give you an honest answer. So you
1589 should use L<C<defined>|/defined EXPR> only when questioning the
1590 integrity of what you're trying to do. At other times, a simple
1591 comparison to C<0> or C<""> is what you want.
1593 See also L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>, L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR>,
1594 L<C<ref>|/ref EXPR>.
1599 =for Pod::Functions deletes a value from a hash
1601 Given an expression that specifies an element or slice of a hash,
1602 L<C<delete>|/delete EXPR> deletes the specified elements from that hash
1603 so that L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR> on that element no longer returns
1604 true. Setting a hash element to the undefined value does not remove its
1605 key, but deleting it does; see L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR>.
1607 In list context, usually returns the value or values deleted, or the last such
1608 element in scalar context. The return list's length corresponds to that of
1609 the argument list: deleting non-existent elements returns the undefined value
1610 in their corresponding positions. When a
1611 L<keyE<sol>value hash slice|perldata/KeyE<sol>Value Hash Slices> is passed to
1612 C<delete>, the return value is a list of key/value pairs (two elements for each
1613 item deleted from the hash).
1615 L<C<delete>|/delete EXPR> may also be used on arrays and array slices,
1616 but its behavior is less straightforward. Although
1617 L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR> will return false for deleted entries,
1618 deleting array elements never changes indices of existing values; use
1619 L<C<shift>|/shift ARRAY> or L<C<splice>|/splice
1620 ARRAY,OFFSET,LENGTH,LIST> for that. However, if any deleted elements
1621 fall at the end of an array, the array's size shrinks to the position of
1622 the highest element that still tests true for L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR>,
1623 or to 0 if none do. In other words, an array won't have trailing
1624 nonexistent elements after a delete.
1626 B<WARNING:> Calling L<C<delete>|/delete EXPR> on array values is
1627 strongly discouraged. The
1628 notion of deleting or checking the existence of Perl array elements is not
1629 conceptually coherent, and can lead to surprising behavior.
1631 Deleting from L<C<%ENV>|perlvar/%ENV> modifies the environment.
1632 Deleting from a hash tied to a DBM file deletes the entry from the DBM
1633 file. Deleting from a L<C<tied>|/tied VARIABLE> hash or array may not
1634 necessarily return anything; it depends on the implementation of the
1635 L<C<tied>|/tied VARIABLE> package's DELETE method, which may do whatever
1638 The C<delete local EXPR> construct localizes the deletion to the current
1639 block at run time. Until the block exits, elements locally deleted
1640 temporarily no longer exist. See L<perlsub/"Localized deletion of elements
1641 of composite types">.
1643 my %hash = (foo => 11, bar => 22, baz => 33);
1644 my $scalar = delete $hash{foo}; # $scalar is 11
1645 $scalar = delete @hash{qw(foo bar)}; # $scalar is 22
1646 my @array = delete @hash{qw(foo baz)}; # @array is (undef,33)
1648 The following (inefficiently) deletes all the values of %HASH and @ARRAY:
1650 foreach my $key (keys %HASH) {
1654 foreach my $index (0 .. $#ARRAY) {
1655 delete $ARRAY[$index];
1660 delete @HASH{keys %HASH};
1662 delete @ARRAY[0 .. $#ARRAY];
1664 But both are slower than assigning the empty list
1665 or undefining %HASH or @ARRAY, which is the customary
1666 way to empty out an aggregate:
1668 %HASH = (); # completely empty %HASH
1669 undef %HASH; # forget %HASH ever existed
1671 @ARRAY = (); # completely empty @ARRAY
1672 undef @ARRAY; # forget @ARRAY ever existed
1674 The EXPR can be arbitrarily complicated provided its
1675 final operation is an element or slice of an aggregate:
1677 delete $ref->[$x][$y]{$key};
1678 delete $ref->[$x][$y]->@{$key1, $key2, @morekeys};
1680 delete $ref->[$x][$y][$index];
1681 delete $ref->[$x][$y]->@[$index1, $index2, @moreindices];
1684 X<die> X<throw> X<exception> X<raise> X<$@> X<abort>
1686 =for Pod::Functions raise an exception or bail out
1688 L<C<die>|/die LIST> raises an exception. Inside an L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>
1689 the exception is stuffed into L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> and the L<C<eval>|/eval
1690 EXPR> is terminated with the undefined value. If the exception is
1691 outside of all enclosing L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>s, then the uncaught
1692 exception is printed to C<STDERR> and perl exits with an exit code
1693 indicating failure. If you need to exit the process with a specific
1694 exit code, see L<C<exit>|/exit EXPR>.
1696 Equivalent examples:
1698 die "Can't cd to spool: $!\n" unless chdir '/usr/spool/news';
1699 chdir '/usr/spool/news' or die "Can't cd to spool: $!\n"
1701 Most of the time, C<die> is called with a string to use as the exception.
1702 You may either give a single non-reference operand to serve as the
1703 exception, or a list of two or more items, which will be stringified
1704 and concatenated to make the exception.
1706 If the string exception does not end in a newline, the current
1707 script line number and input line number (if any) and a newline
1708 are appended to it. Note that the "input line number" (also
1709 known as "chunk") is subject to whatever notion of "line" happens to
1710 be currently in effect, and is also available as the special variable
1711 L<C<$.>|perlvar/$.>. See L<perlvar/"$/"> and L<perlvar/"$.">.
1713 Hint: sometimes appending C<", stopped"> to your message will cause it
1714 to make better sense when the string C<"at foo line 123"> is appended.
1715 Suppose you are running script "canasta".
1717 die "/etc/games is no good";
1718 die "/etc/games is no good, stopped";
1720 produce, respectively
1722 /etc/games is no good at canasta line 123.
1723 /etc/games is no good, stopped at canasta line 123.
1725 If LIST was empty or made an empty string, and L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@>
1726 already contains an exception value (typically from a previous
1727 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>), then that value is reused after
1728 appending C<"\t...propagated">. This is useful for propagating exceptions:
1731 die unless $@ =~ /Expected exception/;
1733 If LIST was empty or made an empty string,
1734 and L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> contains an object
1735 reference that has a C<PROPAGATE> method, that method will be called
1736 with additional file and line number parameters. The return value
1737 replaces the value in L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@>; i.e., as if
1738 C<< $@ = eval { $@->PROPAGATE(__FILE__, __LINE__) }; >> were called.
1740 If LIST was empty or made an empty string, and L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@>
1741 is also empty, then the string C<"Died"> is used.
1743 You can also call L<C<die>|/die LIST> with a reference argument, and if
1744 this is trapped within an L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>, L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@>
1745 contains that reference. This permits more elaborate exception handling
1746 using objects that maintain arbitrary state about the exception. Such a
1747 scheme is sometimes preferable to matching particular string values of
1748 L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> with regular expressions.
1750 Because Perl stringifies uncaught exception messages before display,
1751 you'll probably want to overload stringification operations on
1752 exception objects. See L<overload> for details about that.
1753 The stringified message should be non-empty, and should end in a newline,
1754 in order to fit in with the treatment of string exceptions.
1755 Also, because an exception object reference cannot be stringified
1756 without destroying it, Perl doesn't attempt to append location or other
1757 information to a reference exception. If you want location information
1758 with a complex exception object, you'll have to arrange to put the
1759 location information into the object yourself.
1761 Because L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> is a global variable, be careful that
1762 analyzing an exception caught by C<eval> doesn't replace the reference
1763 in the global variable. It's
1764 easiest to make a local copy of the reference before any manipulations.
1767 use Scalar::Util "blessed";
1769 eval { ... ; die Some::Module::Exception->new( FOO => "bar" ) };
1770 if (my $ev_err = $@) {
1771 if (blessed($ev_err)
1772 && $ev_err->isa("Some::Module::Exception")) {
1773 # handle Some::Module::Exception
1776 # handle all other possible exceptions
1780 If an uncaught exception results in interpreter exit, the exit code is
1781 determined from the values of L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> and
1782 L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> with this pseudocode:
1784 exit $! if $!; # errno
1785 exit $? >> 8 if $? >> 8; # child exit status
1786 exit 255; # last resort
1788 As with L<C<exit>|/exit EXPR>, L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> is set prior to
1789 unwinding the call stack; any C<DESTROY> or C<END> handlers can then
1790 alter this value, and thus Perl's exit code.
1792 The intent is to squeeze as much possible information about the likely cause
1793 into the limited space of the system exit code. However, as
1794 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> is the value of C's C<errno>, which can be set by
1795 any system call, this means that the value of the exit code used by
1796 L<C<die>|/die LIST> can be non-predictable, so should not be relied
1797 upon, other than to be non-zero.
1799 You can arrange for a callback to be run just before the
1800 L<C<die>|/die LIST> does its deed, by setting the
1801 L<C<$SIG{__DIE__}>|perlvar/%SIG> hook. The associated handler is called
1802 with the exception as an argument, and can change the exception,
1804 calling L<C<die>|/die LIST> again. See L<perlvar/%SIG> for details on
1805 setting L<C<%SIG>|perlvar/%SIG> entries, and L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR> for some
1806 examples. Although this feature was to be run only right before your
1807 program was to exit, this is not currently so: the
1808 L<C<$SIG{__DIE__}>|perlvar/%SIG> hook is currently called even inside
1809 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>ed blocks/strings! If one wants the hook to do
1810 nothing in such situations, put
1814 as the first line of the handler (see L<perlvar/$^S>). Because
1815 this promotes strange action at a distance, this counterintuitive
1816 behavior may be fixed in a future release.
1818 See also L<C<exit>|/exit EXPR>, L<C<warn>|/warn LIST>, and the L<Carp>
1824 =for Pod::Functions turn a BLOCK into a TERM
1826 Not really a function. Returns the value of the last command in the
1827 sequence of commands indicated by BLOCK. When modified by the C<while> or
1828 C<until> loop modifier, executes the BLOCK once before testing the loop
1829 condition. (On other statements the loop modifiers test the conditional
1832 C<do BLOCK> does I<not> count as a loop, so the loop control statements
1833 L<C<next>|/next LABEL>, L<C<last>|/last LABEL>, or
1834 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> cannot be used to leave or restart the block.
1835 See L<perlsyn> for alternative strategies.
1840 Uses the value of EXPR as a filename and executes the contents of the
1841 file as a Perl script:
1843 # load the exact specified file (./ and ../ special-cased)
1846 do '../foo/stat.pl';
1848 # search for the named file within @INC
1852 C<do './stat.pl'> is largely like
1856 except that it's more concise, runs no external processes, and keeps
1857 track of the current filename for error messages. It also differs in that
1858 code evaluated with C<do FILE> cannot see lexicals in the enclosing
1859 scope; C<eval STRING> does. It's the same, however, in that it does
1860 reparse the file every time you call it, so you probably don't want
1861 to do this inside a loop.
1863 Using C<do> with a relative path (except for F<./> and F<../>), like
1867 will search the L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC> directories, and update
1868 L<C<%INC>|perlvar/%INC> if the file is found. See L<perlvar/@INC>
1869 and L<perlvar/%INC> for these variables. In particular, note that
1870 whilst historically L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC> contained '.' (the
1871 current directory) making these two cases equivalent, that is no
1872 longer necessarily the case, as '.' is not included in C<@INC> by default
1873 in perl versions 5.26.0 onwards. Instead, perl will now warn:
1875 do "stat.pl" failed, '.' is no longer in @INC;
1876 did you mean do "./stat.pl"?
1878 If L<C<do>|/do EXPR> can read the file but cannot compile it, it
1879 returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> and sets an error message in
1880 L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@>. If L<C<do>|/do EXPR> cannot read the file, it
1881 returns undef and sets L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> to the error. Always check
1882 L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> first, as compilation could fail in a way that also
1883 sets L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!>. If the file is successfully compiled,
1884 L<C<do>|/do EXPR> returns the value of the last expression evaluated.
1886 Inclusion of library modules is better done with the
1887 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> and L<C<require>|/require VERSION>
1888 operators, which also do automatic error checking and raise an exception
1889 if there's a problem.
1891 You might like to use L<C<do>|/do EXPR> to read in a program
1892 configuration file. Manual error checking can be done this way:
1894 # Read in config files: system first, then user.
1895 # Beware of using relative pathnames here.
1896 for $file ("/share/prog/defaults.rc",
1897 "$ENV{HOME}/.someprogrc")
1899 unless ($return = do $file) {
1900 warn "couldn't parse $file: $@" if $@;
1901 warn "couldn't do $file: $!" unless defined $return;
1902 warn "couldn't run $file" unless $return;
1907 X<dump> X<core> X<undump>
1913 =for Pod::Functions create an immediate core dump
1915 This function causes an immediate core dump. See also the B<-u>
1916 command-line switch in L<perlrun|perlrun/-u>, which does the same thing.
1917 Primarily this is so that you can use the B<undump> program (not
1918 supplied) to turn your core dump into an executable binary after
1919 having initialized all your variables at the beginning of the
1920 program. When the new binary is executed it will begin by executing
1921 a C<goto LABEL> (with all the restrictions that L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL>
1923 Think of it as a goto with an intervening core dump and reincarnation.
1924 If C<LABEL> is omitted, restarts the program from the top. The
1925 C<dump EXPR> form, available starting in Perl 5.18.0, allows a name to be
1926 computed at run time, being otherwise identical to C<dump LABEL>.
1928 B<WARNING>: Any files opened at the time of the dump will I<not>
1929 be open any more when the program is reincarnated, with possible
1930 resulting confusion by Perl.
1932 This function is now largely obsolete, mostly because it's very hard to
1933 convert a core file into an executable. As of Perl 5.30, it must be invoked
1936 Unlike most named operators, this has the same precedence as assignment.
1937 It is also exempt from the looks-like-a-function rule, so
1938 C<dump ("foo")."bar"> will cause "bar" to be part of the argument to
1939 L<C<dump>|/dump LABEL>.
1941 Portability issues: L<perlport/dump>.
1944 X<each> X<hash, iterator>
1949 =for Pod::Functions retrieve the next key/value pair from a hash
1951 When called on a hash in list context, returns a 2-element list
1952 consisting of the key and value for the next element of a hash. In Perl
1953 5.12 and later only, it will also return the index and value for the next
1954 element of an array so that you can iterate over it; older Perls consider
1955 this a syntax error. When called in scalar context, returns only the key
1956 (not the value) in a hash, or the index in an array.
1958 Hash entries are returned in an apparently random order. The actual random
1959 order is specific to a given hash; the exact same series of operations
1960 on two hashes may result in a different order for each hash. Any insertion
1961 into the hash may change the order, as will any deletion, with the exception
1962 that the most recent key returned by L<C<each>|/each HASH> or
1963 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> may be deleted without changing the order. So
1964 long as a given hash is unmodified you may rely on
1965 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>, L<C<values>|/values HASH> and
1966 L<C<each>|/each HASH> to repeatedly return the same order
1967 as each other. See L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> for
1968 details on why hash order is randomized. Aside from the guarantees
1969 provided here the exact details of Perl's hash algorithm and the hash
1970 traversal order are subject to change in any release of Perl.
1972 After L<C<each>|/each HASH> has returned all entries from the hash or
1973 array, the next call to L<C<each>|/each HASH> returns the empty list in
1974 list context and L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> in scalar context; the next
1975 call following I<that> one restarts iteration. Each hash or array has
1976 its own internal iterator, accessed by L<C<each>|/each HASH>,
1977 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>, and L<C<values>|/values HASH>. The iterator is
1978 implicitly reset when L<C<each>|/each HASH> has reached the end as just
1979 described; it can be explicitly reset by calling L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>
1980 or L<C<values>|/values HASH> on the hash or array, or by referencing
1981 the hash (but not array) in list context. If you add or delete
1982 a hash's elements while iterating over it, the effect on the iterator is
1983 unspecified; for example, entries may be skipped or duplicated--so don't
1984 do that. Exception: It is always safe to delete the item most recently
1985 returned by L<C<each>|/each HASH>, so the following code works properly:
1987 while (my ($key, $value) = each %hash) {
1989 delete $hash{$key}; # This is safe
1992 Tied hashes may have a different ordering behaviour to perl's hash
1995 The iterator used by C<each> is attached to the hash or array, and is
1996 shared between all iteration operations applied to the same hash or array.
1997 Thus all uses of C<each> on a single hash or array advance the same
1998 iterator location. All uses of C<each> are also subject to having the
1999 iterator reset by any use of C<keys> or C<values> on the same hash or
2000 array, or by the hash (but not array) being referenced in list context.
2001 This makes C<each>-based loops quite fragile: it is easy to arrive at
2002 such a loop with the iterator already part way through the object, or to
2003 accidentally clobber the iterator state during execution of the loop body.
2004 It's easy enough to explicitly reset the iterator before starting a loop,
2005 but there is no way to insulate the iterator state used by a loop from
2006 the iterator state used by anything else that might execute during the
2007 loop body. To avoid these problems, use a C<foreach> loop rather than
2010 This prints out your environment like the L<printenv(1)> program,
2011 but in a different order:
2013 while (my ($key,$value) = each %ENV) {
2014 print "$key=$value\n";
2017 Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed
2018 L<C<each>|/each HASH> to take a scalar expression. This experiment has
2019 been deemed unsuccessful, and was removed as of Perl 5.24.
2021 As of Perl 5.18 you can use a bare L<C<each>|/each HASH> in a C<while>
2022 loop, which will set L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> on every iteration.
2023 If either an C<each> expression or an explicit assignment of an C<each>
2024 expression to a scalar is used as a C<while>/C<for> condition, then
2025 the condition actually tests for definedness of the expression's value,
2026 not for its regular truth value.
2029 print "$_=$ENV{$_}\n";
2032 To avoid confusing would-be users of your code who are running earlier
2033 versions of Perl with mysterious syntax errors, put this sort of thing at
2034 the top of your file to signal that your code will work I<only> on Perls of
2037 use 5.012; # so keys/values/each work on arrays
2038 use 5.018; # so each assigns to $_ in a lone while test
2040 See also L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>, L<C<values>|/values HASH>, and
2041 L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST>.
2043 =item eof FILEHANDLE
2052 =for Pod::Functions test a filehandle for its end
2054 Returns 1 if the next read on FILEHANDLE will return end of file I<or> if
2055 FILEHANDLE is not open. FILEHANDLE may be an expression whose value
2056 gives the real filehandle. (Note that this function actually
2057 reads a character and then C<ungetc>s it, so isn't useful in an
2058 interactive context.) Do not read from a terminal file (or call
2059 C<eof(FILEHANDLE)> on it) after end-of-file is reached. File types such
2060 as terminals may lose the end-of-file condition if you do.
2062 An L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE> without an argument uses the last file
2063 read. Using L<C<eof()>|/eof FILEHANDLE> with empty parentheses is
2064 different. It refers to the pseudo file formed from the files listed on
2065 the command line and accessed via the C<< <> >> operator. Since
2066 C<< <> >> isn't explicitly opened, as a normal filehandle is, an
2067 L<C<eof()>|/eof FILEHANDLE> before C<< <> >> has been used will cause
2068 L<C<@ARGV>|perlvar/@ARGV> to be examined to determine if input is
2069 available. Similarly, an L<C<eof()>|/eof FILEHANDLE> after C<< <> >>
2070 has returned end-of-file will assume you are processing another
2071 L<C<@ARGV>|perlvar/@ARGV> list, and if you haven't set
2072 L<C<@ARGV>|perlvar/@ARGV>, will read input from C<STDIN>; see
2073 L<perlop/"I/O Operators">.
2075 In a C<< while (<>) >> loop, L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE> or C<eof(ARGV)>
2076 can be used to detect the end of each file, whereas
2077 L<C<eof()>|/eof FILEHANDLE> will detect the end of the very last file
2080 # reset line numbering on each input file
2082 next if /^\s*#/; # skip comments
2085 close ARGV if eof; # Not eof()!
2088 # insert dashes just before last line of last file
2090 if (eof()) { # check for end of last file
2091 print "--------------\n";
2094 last if eof(); # needed if we're reading from a terminal
2097 Practical hint: you almost never need to use L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE>
2098 in Perl, because the input operators typically return L<C<undef>|/undef
2099 EXPR> when they run out of data or encounter an error.
2102 X<eval> X<try> X<catch> X<evaluate> X<parse> X<execute>
2103 X<error, handling> X<exception, handling>
2109 =for Pod::Functions catch exceptions or compile and run code
2111 C<eval> in all its forms is used to execute a little Perl program,
2112 trapping any errors encountered so they don't crash the calling program.
2114 Plain C<eval> with no argument is just C<eval EXPR>, where the
2115 expression is understood to be contained in L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>. Thus
2116 there are only two real C<eval> forms; the one with an EXPR is often
2117 called "string eval". In a string eval, the value of the expression
2118 (which is itself determined within scalar context) is first parsed, and
2119 if there were no errors, executed as a block within the lexical context
2120 of the current Perl program. This form is typically used to delay
2121 parsing and subsequent execution of the text of EXPR until run time.
2122 Note that the value is parsed every time the C<eval> executes.
2124 The other form is called "block eval". It is less general than string
2125 eval, but the code within the BLOCK is parsed only once (at the same
2126 time the code surrounding the C<eval> itself was parsed) and executed
2127 within the context of the current Perl program. This form is typically
2128 used to trap exceptions more efficiently than the first, while also
2129 providing the benefit of checking the code within BLOCK at compile time.
2130 BLOCK is parsed and compiled just once. Since errors are trapped, it
2131 often is used to check if a given feature is available.
2133 In both forms, the value returned is the value of the last expression
2134 evaluated inside the mini-program; a return statement may also be used, just
2135 as with subroutines. The expression providing the return value is evaluated
2136 in void, scalar, or list context, depending on the context of the
2137 C<eval> itself. See L<C<wantarray>|/wantarray> for more
2138 on how the evaluation context can be determined.
2140 If there is a syntax error or runtime error, or a L<C<die>|/die LIST>
2141 statement is executed, C<eval> returns
2142 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> in scalar context, or an empty list in list
2143 context, and L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> is set to the error message. (Prior to
2144 5.16, a bug caused L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> to be returned in list
2145 context for syntax errors, but not for runtime errors.) If there was no
2146 error, L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> is set to the empty string. A control flow
2147 operator like L<C<last>|/last LABEL> or L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL> can
2148 bypass the setting of L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@>. Beware that using
2149 C<eval> neither silences Perl from printing warnings to
2150 STDERR, nor does it stuff the text of warning messages into
2151 L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@>. To do either of those, you have to use the
2152 L<C<$SIG{__WARN__}>|perlvar/%SIG> facility, or turn off warnings inside
2153 the BLOCK or EXPR using S<C<no warnings 'all'>>. See
2154 L<C<warn>|/warn LIST>, L<perlvar>, and L<warnings>.
2156 Note that, because C<eval> traps otherwise-fatal errors,
2157 it is useful for determining whether a particular feature (such as
2158 L<C<socket>|/socket SOCKET,DOMAIN,TYPE,PROTOCOL> or
2159 L<C<symlink>|/symlink OLDFILE,NEWFILE>) is implemented. It is also
2160 Perl's exception-trapping mechanism, where the L<C<die>|/die LIST>
2161 operator is used to raise exceptions.
2163 Before Perl 5.14, the assignment to L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> occurred before
2165 of localized variables, which means that for your code to run on older
2166 versions, a temporary is required if you want to mask some, but not all
2169 # alter $@ on nefarious repugnancy only
2173 local $@; # protect existing $@
2174 eval { test_repugnancy() };
2175 # $@ =~ /nefarious/ and die $@; # Perl 5.14 and higher only
2176 $@ =~ /nefarious/ and $e = $@;
2178 die $e if defined $e
2181 There are some different considerations for each form:
2187 Since the return value of EXPR is executed as a block within the lexical
2188 context of the current Perl program, any outer lexical variables are
2189 visible to it, and any package variable settings or subroutine and
2190 format definitions remain afterwards.
2194 =item Under the L<C<"unicode_eval"> feature|feature/The 'unicode_eval' and 'evalbytes' features>
2196 If this feature is enabled (which is the default under a C<use 5.16> or
2197 higher declaration), EXPR is considered to be
2198 in the same encoding as the surrounding program. Thus if
2199 S<L<C<use utf8>|utf8>> is in effect, the string will be treated as being
2200 UTF-8 encoded. Otherwise, the string is considered to be a sequence of
2201 independent bytes. Bytes that correspond to ASCII-range code points
2202 will have their normal meanings for operators in the string. The
2203 treatment of the other bytes depends on if the
2204 L<C<'unicode_strings"> feature|feature/The 'unicode_strings' feature> is
2207 In a plain C<eval> without an EXPR argument, being in S<C<use utf8>> or
2208 not is irrelevant; the UTF-8ness of C<$_> itself determines the
2211 Any S<C<use utf8>> or S<C<no utf8>> declarations within the string have
2212 no effect, and source filters are forbidden. (C<unicode_strings>,
2213 however, can appear within the string.) See also the
2214 L<C<evalbytes>|/evalbytes EXPR> operator, which works properly with
2217 Variables defined outside the C<eval> and used inside it retain their
2218 original UTF-8ness. Everything inside the string follows the normal
2219 rules for a Perl program with the given state of S<C<use utf8>>.
2221 =item Outside the C<"unicode_eval"> feature
2223 In this case, the behavior is problematic and is not so easily
2224 described. Here are two bugs that cannot easily be fixed without
2225 breaking existing programs:
2231 It can lose track of whether something should be encoded as UTF-8 or
2236 Source filters activated within C<eval> leak out into whichever file
2237 scope is currently being compiled. To give an example with the CPAN module
2238 L<Semi::Semicolons>:
2240 BEGIN { eval "use Semi::Semicolons; # not filtered" }
2243 L<C<evalbytes>|/evalbytes EXPR> fixes that to work the way one would
2246 use feature "evalbytes";
2247 BEGIN { evalbytes "use Semi::Semicolons; # filtered" }
2254 Problems can arise if the string expands a scalar containing a floating
2255 point number. That scalar can expand to letters, such as C<"NaN"> or
2256 C<"Infinity">; or, within the scope of a L<C<use locale>|locale>, the
2257 decimal point character may be something other than a dot (such as a
2258 comma). None of these are likely to parse as you are likely expecting.
2260 You should be especially careful to remember what's being looked at
2267 eval { $x }; # CASE 4
2269 eval "\$$x++"; # CASE 5
2272 Cases 1 and 2 above behave identically: they run the code contained in
2273 the variable $x. (Although case 2 has misleading double quotes making
2274 the reader wonder what else might be happening (nothing is).) Cases 3
2275 and 4 likewise behave in the same way: they run the code C<'$x'>, which
2276 does nothing but return the value of $x. (Case 4 is preferred for
2277 purely visual reasons, but it also has the advantage of compiling at
2278 compile-time instead of at run-time.) Case 5 is a place where
2279 normally you I<would> like to use double quotes, except that in this
2280 particular situation, you can just use symbolic references instead, as
2283 An C<eval ''> executed within a subroutine defined
2284 in the C<DB> package doesn't see the usual
2285 surrounding lexical scope, but rather the scope of the first non-DB piece
2286 of code that called it. You don't normally need to worry about this unless
2287 you are writing a Perl debugger.
2289 The final semicolon, if any, may be omitted from the value of EXPR.
2293 If the code to be executed doesn't vary, you may use the eval-BLOCK
2294 form to trap run-time errors without incurring the penalty of
2295 recompiling each time. The error, if any, is still returned in
2296 L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@>.
2299 # make divide-by-zero nonfatal
2300 eval { $answer = $a / $b; }; warn $@ if $@;
2302 # same thing, but less efficient
2303 eval '$answer = $a / $b'; warn $@ if $@;
2305 # a compile-time error
2306 eval { $answer = }; # WRONG
2309 eval '$answer ='; # sets $@
2311 If you want to trap errors when loading an XS module, some problems with
2312 the binary interface (such as Perl version skew) may be fatal even with
2313 C<eval> unless C<$ENV{PERL_DL_NONLAZY}> is set. See
2314 L<perlrun|perlrun/PERL_DL_NONLAZY>.
2316 Using the C<eval {}> form as an exception trap in libraries does have some
2317 issues. Due to the current arguably broken state of C<__DIE__> hooks, you
2318 may wish not to trigger any C<__DIE__> hooks that user code may have installed.
2319 You can use the C<local $SIG{__DIE__}> construct for this purpose,
2320 as this example shows:
2322 # a private exception trap for divide-by-zero
2323 eval { local $SIG{'__DIE__'}; $answer = $a / $b; };
2326 This is especially significant, given that C<__DIE__> hooks can call
2327 L<C<die>|/die LIST> again, which has the effect of changing their error
2330 # __DIE__ hooks may modify error messages
2332 local $SIG{'__DIE__'} =
2333 sub { (my $x = $_[0]) =~ s/foo/bar/g; die $x };
2334 eval { die "foo lives here" };
2335 print $@ if $@; # prints "bar lives here"
2338 Because this promotes action at a distance, this counterintuitive behavior
2339 may be fixed in a future release.
2341 C<eval BLOCK> does I<not> count as a loop, so the loop control statements
2342 L<C<next>|/next LABEL>, L<C<last>|/last LABEL>, or
2343 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> cannot be used to leave or restart the block.
2345 The final semicolon, if any, may be omitted from within the BLOCK.
2349 =item evalbytes EXPR
2354 =for Pod::Functions +evalbytes similar to string eval, but intend to parse a bytestream
2356 This function is similar to a L<string eval|/eval EXPR>, except it
2357 always parses its argument (or L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> if EXPR is omitted)
2358 as a string of independent bytes.
2360 If called when S<C<use utf8>> is in effect, the string will be assumed
2361 to be encoded in UTF-8, and C<evalbytes> will make a temporary copy to
2362 work from, downgraded to non-UTF-8. If this is not possible
2363 (because one or more characters in it require UTF-8), the C<evalbytes>
2364 will fail with the error stored in C<$@>.
2366 Bytes that correspond to ASCII-range code points will have their normal
2367 meanings for operators in the string. The treatment of the other bytes
2368 depends on if the L<C<'unicode_strings"> feature|feature/The
2369 'unicode_strings' feature> is in effect.
2371 Of course, variables that are UTF-8 and are referred to in the string
2375 evalbytes 'print ord $a, "\n"';
2383 Source filters activated within the evaluated code apply to the code
2386 L<C<evalbytes>|/evalbytes EXPR> is available starting in Perl v5.16. To
2387 access it, you must say C<CORE::evalbytes>, but you can omit the
2389 L<C<"evalbytes"> feature|feature/The 'unicode_eval' and 'evalbytes' features>
2390 is enabled. This is enabled automatically with a C<use v5.16> (or
2391 higher) declaration in the current scope.
2396 =item exec PROGRAM LIST
2398 =for Pod::Functions abandon this program to run another
2400 The L<C<exec>|/exec LIST> function executes a system command I<and never
2401 returns>; use L<C<system>|/system LIST> instead of L<C<exec>|/exec LIST>
2402 if you want it to return. It fails and
2403 returns false only if the command does not exist I<and> it is executed
2404 directly instead of via your system's command shell (see below).
2406 Since it's a common mistake to use L<C<exec>|/exec LIST> instead of
2407 L<C<system>|/system LIST>, Perl warns you if L<C<exec>|/exec LIST> is
2408 called in void context and if there is a following statement that isn't
2409 L<C<die>|/die LIST>, L<C<warn>|/warn LIST>, or L<C<exit>|/exit EXPR> (if
2410 L<warnings> are enabled--but you always do that, right?). If you
2411 I<really> want to follow an L<C<exec>|/exec LIST> with some other
2412 statement, you can use one of these styles to avoid the warning:
2414 exec ('foo') or print STDERR "couldn't exec foo: $!";
2415 { exec ('foo') }; print STDERR "couldn't exec foo: $!";
2417 If there is more than one argument in LIST, this calls L<execvp(3)> with the
2418 arguments in LIST. If there is only one element in LIST, the argument is
2419 checked for shell metacharacters, and if there are any, the entire
2420 argument is passed to the system's command shell for parsing (this is
2421 C</bin/sh -c> on Unix platforms, but varies on other platforms). If
2422 there are no shell metacharacters in the argument, it is split into words
2423 and passed directly to C<execvp>, which is more efficient. Examples:
2425 exec '/bin/echo', 'Your arguments are: ', @ARGV;
2426 exec "sort $outfile | uniq";
2428 If you don't really want to execute the first argument, but want to lie
2429 to the program you are executing about its own name, you can specify
2430 the program you actually want to run as an "indirect object" (without a
2431 comma) in front of the LIST, as in C<exec PROGRAM LIST>. (This always
2432 forces interpretation of the LIST as a multivalued list, even if there
2433 is only a single scalar in the list.) Example:
2435 my $shell = '/bin/csh';
2436 exec $shell '-sh'; # pretend it's a login shell
2440 exec {'/bin/csh'} '-sh'; # pretend it's a login shell
2442 When the arguments get executed via the system shell, results are
2443 subject to its quirks and capabilities. See L<perlop/"`STRING`">
2446 Using an indirect object with L<C<exec>|/exec LIST> or
2447 L<C<system>|/system LIST> is also more secure. This usage (which also
2448 works fine with L<C<system>|/system LIST>) forces
2449 interpretation of the arguments as a multivalued list, even if the
2450 list had just one argument. That way you're safe from the shell
2451 expanding wildcards or splitting up words with whitespace in them.
2453 my @args = ( "echo surprise" );
2455 exec @args; # subject to shell escapes
2457 exec { $args[0] } @args; # safe even with one-arg list
2459 The first version, the one without the indirect object, ran the I<echo>
2460 program, passing it C<"surprise"> an argument. The second version didn't;
2461 it tried to run a program named I<"echo surprise">, didn't find it, and set
2462 L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> to a non-zero value indicating failure.
2464 On Windows, only the C<exec PROGRAM LIST> indirect object syntax will
2465 reliably avoid using the shell; C<exec LIST>, even with more than one
2466 element, will fall back to the shell if the first spawn fails.
2468 Perl attempts to flush all files opened for output before the exec,
2469 but this may not be supported on some platforms (see L<perlport>).
2470 To be safe, you may need to set L<C<$E<verbar>>|perlvar/$E<verbar>>
2471 (C<$AUTOFLUSH> in L<English>) or call the C<autoflush> method of
2472 L<C<IO::Handle>|IO::Handle/METHODS> on any open handles to avoid lost
2475 Note that L<C<exec>|/exec LIST> will not call your C<END> blocks, nor
2476 will it invoke C<DESTROY> methods on your objects.
2478 Portability issues: L<perlport/exec>.
2481 X<exists> X<autovivification>
2483 =for Pod::Functions test whether a hash key is present
2485 Given an expression that specifies an element of a hash, returns true if the
2486 specified element in the hash has ever been initialized, even if the
2487 corresponding value is undefined.
2489 print "Exists\n" if exists $hash{$key};
2490 print "Defined\n" if defined $hash{$key};
2491 print "True\n" if $hash{$key};
2493 exists may also be called on array elements, but its behavior is much less
2494 obvious and is strongly tied to the use of L<C<delete>|/delete EXPR> on
2497 B<WARNING:> Calling L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR> on array values is
2498 strongly discouraged. The
2499 notion of deleting or checking the existence of Perl array elements is not
2500 conceptually coherent, and can lead to surprising behavior.
2502 print "Exists\n" if exists $array[$index];
2503 print "Defined\n" if defined $array[$index];
2504 print "True\n" if $array[$index];
2506 A hash or array element can be true only if it's defined and defined only if
2507 it exists, but the reverse doesn't necessarily hold true.
2509 Given an expression that specifies the name of a subroutine,
2510 returns true if the specified subroutine has ever been declared, even
2511 if it is undefined. Mentioning a subroutine name for exists or defined
2512 does not count as declaring it. Note that a subroutine that does not
2513 exist may still be callable: its package may have an C<AUTOLOAD>
2514 method that makes it spring into existence the first time that it is
2515 called; see L<perlsub>.
2517 print "Exists\n" if exists &subroutine;
2518 print "Defined\n" if defined &subroutine;
2520 Note that the EXPR can be arbitrarily complicated as long as the final
2521 operation is a hash or array key lookup or subroutine name:
2523 if (exists $ref->{A}->{B}->{$key}) { }
2524 if (exists $hash{A}{B}{$key}) { }
2526 if (exists $ref->{A}->{B}->[$ix]) { }
2527 if (exists $hash{A}{B}[$ix]) { }
2529 if (exists &{$ref->{A}{B}{$key}}) { }
2531 Although the most deeply nested array or hash element will not spring into
2532 existence just because its existence was tested, any intervening ones will.
2533 Thus C<< $ref->{"A"} >> and C<< $ref->{"A"}->{"B"} >> will spring
2534 into existence due to the existence test for the C<$key> element above.
2535 This happens anywhere the arrow operator is used, including even here:
2538 if (exists $ref->{"Some key"}) { }
2539 print $ref; # prints HASH(0x80d3d5c)
2541 Use of a subroutine call, rather than a subroutine name, as an argument
2542 to L<C<exists>|/exists EXPR> is an error.
2545 exists &sub(); # Error
2548 X<exit> X<terminate> X<abort>
2552 =for Pod::Functions terminate this program
2554 Evaluates EXPR and exits immediately with that value. Example:
2557 exit 0 if $ans =~ /^[Xx]/;
2559 See also L<C<die>|/die LIST>. If EXPR is omitted, exits with C<0>
2561 universally recognized values for EXPR are C<0> for success and C<1>
2562 for error; other values are subject to interpretation depending on the
2563 environment in which the Perl program is running. For example, exiting
2564 69 (EX_UNAVAILABLE) from a I<sendmail> incoming-mail filter will cause
2565 the mailer to return the item undelivered, but that's not true everywhere.
2567 Don't use L<C<exit>|/exit EXPR> to abort a subroutine if there's any
2568 chance that someone might want to trap whatever error happened. Use
2569 L<C<die>|/die LIST> instead, which can be trapped by an
2570 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>.
2572 The L<C<exit>|/exit EXPR> function does not always exit immediately. It
2573 calls any defined C<END> routines first, but these C<END> routines may
2574 not themselves abort the exit. Likewise any object destructors that
2575 need to be called are called before the real exit. C<END> routines and
2576 destructors can change the exit status by modifying L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?>.
2577 If this is a problem, you can call
2578 L<C<POSIX::_exit($status)>|POSIX/C<_exit>> to avoid C<END> and destructor
2579 processing. See L<perlmod> for details.
2581 Portability issues: L<perlport/exit>.
2584 X<exp> X<exponential> X<antilog> X<antilogarithm> X<e>
2588 =for Pod::Functions raise I<e> to a power
2590 Returns I<e> (the natural logarithm base) to the power of EXPR.
2591 If EXPR is omitted, gives C<exp($_)>.
2594 X<fc> X<foldcase> X<casefold> X<fold-case> X<case-fold>
2598 =for Pod::Functions +fc return casefolded version of a string
2600 Returns the casefolded version of EXPR. This is the internal function
2601 implementing the C<\F> escape in double-quoted strings.
2603 Casefolding is the process of mapping strings to a form where case
2604 differences are erased; comparing two strings in their casefolded
2605 form is effectively a way of asking if two strings are equal,
2608 Roughly, if you ever found yourself writing this
2610 lc($this) eq lc($that) # Wrong!
2612 uc($this) eq uc($that) # Also wrong!
2614 $this =~ /^\Q$that\E\z/i # Right!
2618 fc($this) eq fc($that)
2620 And get the correct results.
2622 Perl only implements the full form of casefolding, but you can access
2623 the simple folds using L<Unicode::UCD/B<casefold()>> and
2624 L<Unicode::UCD/B<prop_invmap()>>.
2625 For further information on casefolding, refer to
2626 the Unicode Standard, specifically sections 3.13 C<Default Case Operations>,
2627 4.2 C<Case-Normative>, and 5.18 C<Case Mappings>,
2628 available at L<https://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/>, as well as the
2629 Case Charts available at L<https://www.unicode.org/charts/case/>.
2631 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
2633 This function behaves the same way under various pragmas, such as within
2634 L<S<C<"use feature 'unicode_strings">>|feature/The 'unicode_strings' feature>,
2635 as L<C<lc>|/lc EXPR> does, with the single exception of
2636 L<C<fc>|/fc EXPR> of I<LATIN CAPITAL LETTER SHARP S> (U+1E9E) within the
2637 scope of L<S<C<use locale>>|locale>. The foldcase of this character
2638 would normally be C<"ss">, but as explained in the L<C<lc>|/lc EXPR>
2640 changes that cross the 255/256 boundary are problematic under locales,
2641 and are hence prohibited. Therefore, this function under locale returns
2642 instead the string C<"\x{17F}\x{17F}">, which is the I<LATIN SMALL LETTER
2643 LONG S>. Since that character itself folds to C<"s">, the string of two
2644 of them together should be equivalent to a single U+1E9E when foldcased.
2646 While the Unicode Standard defines two additional forms of casefolding,
2647 one for Turkic languages and one that never maps one character into multiple
2648 characters, these are not provided by the Perl core. However, the CPAN module
2649 L<C<Unicode::Casing>|Unicode::Casing> may be used to provide an implementation.
2651 L<C<fc>|/fc EXPR> is available only if the
2652 L<C<"fc"> feature|feature/The 'fc' feature> is enabled or if it is
2653 prefixed with C<CORE::>. The
2654 L<C<"fc"> feature|feature/The 'fc' feature> is enabled automatically
2655 with a C<use v5.16> (or higher) declaration in the current scope.
2657 =item fcntl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR
2660 =for Pod::Functions file control system call
2662 Implements the L<fcntl(2)> function. You'll probably have to say
2666 first to get the correct constant definitions. Argument processing and
2667 value returned work just like L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl
2668 FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR> below. For example:
2671 my $flags = fcntl($filehandle, F_GETFL, 0)
2672 or die "Can't fcntl F_GETFL: $!";
2674 You don't have to check for L<C<defined>|/defined EXPR> on the return
2675 from L<C<fcntl>|/fcntl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>. Like
2676 L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>, it maps a C<0> return
2677 from the system call into C<"0 but true"> in Perl. This string is true
2678 in boolean context and C<0> in numeric context. It is also exempt from
2680 L<C<Argument "..." isn't numeric>|perldiag/Argument "%s" isn't numeric%s>
2681 L<warnings> on improper numeric conversions.
2683 Note that L<C<fcntl>|/fcntl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR> raises an
2684 exception if used on a machine that doesn't implement L<fcntl(2)>. See
2685 the L<Fcntl> module or your L<fcntl(2)> manpage to learn what functions
2686 are available on your system.
2688 Here's an example of setting a filehandle named C<$REMOTE> to be
2689 non-blocking at the system level. You'll have to negotiate
2690 L<C<$E<verbar>>|perlvar/$E<verbar>> on your own, though.
2692 use Fcntl qw(F_GETFL F_SETFL O_NONBLOCK);
2694 my $flags = fcntl($REMOTE, F_GETFL, 0)
2695 or die "Can't get flags for the socket: $!\n";
2697 fcntl($REMOTE, F_SETFL, $flags | O_NONBLOCK)
2698 or die "Can't set flags for the socket: $!\n";
2700 Portability issues: L<perlport/fcntl>.
2705 =for Pod::Functions the name of the current source file
2707 A special token that returns the name of the file in which it occurs.
2708 It can be altered by the mechanism described at
2709 L<perlsyn/"Plain Old Comments (Not!)">.
2711 =item fileno FILEHANDLE
2714 =item fileno DIRHANDLE
2716 =for Pod::Functions return file descriptor from filehandle
2718 Returns the file descriptor for a filehandle or directory handle,
2720 filehandle is not open. If there is no real file descriptor at the OS
2721 level, as can happen with filehandles connected to memory objects via
2722 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> with a reference for the third
2723 argument, -1 is returned.
2725 This is mainly useful for constructing bitmaps for
2726 L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT> and low-level POSIX
2727 tty-handling operations.
2728 If FILEHANDLE is an expression, the value is taken as an indirect
2729 filehandle, generally its name.
2731 You can use this to find out whether two handles refer to the
2732 same underlying descriptor:
2734 if (fileno($this) != -1 && fileno($this) == fileno($that)) {
2735 print "\$this and \$that are dups\n";
2736 } elsif (fileno($this) != -1 && fileno($that) != -1) {
2737 print "\$this and \$that have different " .
2738 "underlying file descriptors\n";
2740 print "At least one of \$this and \$that does " .
2741 "not have a real file descriptor\n";
2744 The behavior of L<C<fileno>|/fileno FILEHANDLE> on a directory handle
2745 depends on the operating system. On a system with L<dirfd(3)> or
2746 similar, L<C<fileno>|/fileno FILEHANDLE> on a directory
2747 handle returns the underlying file descriptor associated with the
2748 handle; on systems with no such support, it returns the undefined value,
2749 and sets L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> (errno).
2751 =item flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION
2752 X<flock> X<lock> X<locking>
2754 =for Pod::Functions lock an entire file with an advisory lock
2756 Calls L<flock(2)>, or an emulation of it, on FILEHANDLE. Returns true
2757 for success, false on failure. Produces a fatal error if used on a
2758 machine that doesn't implement L<flock(2)>, L<fcntl(2)> locking, or
2759 L<lockf(3)>. L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION> is Perl's portable
2760 file-locking interface, although it locks entire files only, not
2763 Two potentially non-obvious but traditional L<C<flock>|/flock
2764 FILEHANDLE,OPERATION> semantics are
2765 that it waits indefinitely until the lock is granted, and that its locks
2766 are B<merely advisory>. Such discretionary locks are more flexible, but
2767 offer fewer guarantees. This means that programs that do not also use
2768 L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION> may modify files locked with
2769 L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION>. See L<perlport>,
2770 your port's specific documentation, and your system-specific local manpages
2771 for details. It's best to assume traditional behavior if you're writing
2772 portable programs. (But if you're not, you should as always feel perfectly
2773 free to write for your own system's idiosyncrasies (sometimes called
2774 "features"). Slavish adherence to portability concerns shouldn't get
2775 in the way of your getting your job done.)
2777 OPERATION is one of LOCK_SH, LOCK_EX, or LOCK_UN, possibly combined with
2778 LOCK_NB. These constants are traditionally valued 1, 2, 8 and 4, but
2779 you can use the symbolic names if you import them from the L<Fcntl> module,
2780 either individually, or as a group using the C<:flock> tag. LOCK_SH
2781 requests a shared lock, LOCK_EX requests an exclusive lock, and LOCK_UN
2782 releases a previously requested lock. If LOCK_NB is bitwise-or'ed with
2783 LOCK_SH or LOCK_EX, then L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION> returns
2784 immediately rather than blocking waiting for the lock; check the return
2785 status to see if you got it.
2787 To avoid the possibility of miscoordination, Perl now flushes FILEHANDLE
2788 before locking or unlocking it.
2790 Note that the emulation built with L<lockf(3)> doesn't provide shared
2791 locks, and it requires that FILEHANDLE be open with write intent. These
2792 are the semantics that L<lockf(3)> implements. Most if not all systems
2793 implement L<lockf(3)> in terms of L<fcntl(2)> locking, though, so the
2794 differing semantics shouldn't bite too many people.
2796 Note that the L<fcntl(2)> emulation of L<flock(3)> requires that FILEHANDLE
2797 be open with read intent to use LOCK_SH and requires that it be open
2798 with write intent to use LOCK_EX.
2800 Note also that some versions of L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION>
2801 cannot lock things over the network; you would need to use the more
2802 system-specific L<C<fcntl>|/fcntl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR> for
2803 that. If you like you can force Perl to ignore your system's L<flock(2)>
2804 function, and so provide its own L<fcntl(2)>-based emulation, by passing
2805 the switch C<-Ud_flock> to the F<Configure> program when you configure
2806 and build a new Perl.
2808 Here's a mailbox appender for BSD systems.
2810 # import LOCK_* and SEEK_END constants
2811 use Fcntl qw(:flock SEEK_END);
2815 flock($fh, LOCK_EX) or die "Cannot lock mailbox - $!\n";
2816 # and, in case we're running on a very old UNIX
2817 # variant without the modern O_APPEND semantics...
2818 seek($fh, 0, SEEK_END) or die "Cannot seek - $!\n";
2823 flock($fh, LOCK_UN) or die "Cannot unlock mailbox - $!\n";
2826 open(my $mbox, ">>", "/usr/spool/mail/$ENV{'USER'}")
2827 or die "Can't open mailbox: $!";
2830 print $mbox $msg,"\n\n";
2833 On systems that support a real L<flock(2)>, locks are inherited across
2834 L<C<fork>|/fork> calls, whereas those that must resort to the more
2835 capricious L<fcntl(2)> function lose their locks, making it seriously
2836 harder to write servers.
2838 See also L<DB_File> for other L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION>
2841 Portability issues: L<perlport/flock>.
2844 X<fork> X<child> X<parent>
2846 =for Pod::Functions create a new process just like this one
2848 Does a L<fork(2)> system call to create a new process running the
2849 same program at the same point. It returns the child pid to the
2850 parent process, C<0> to the child process, or L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> if
2852 unsuccessful. File descriptors (and sometimes locks on those descriptors)
2853 are shared, while everything else is copied. On most systems supporting
2854 L<fork(2)>, great care has gone into making it extremely efficient (for
2855 example, using copy-on-write technology on data pages), making it the
2856 dominant paradigm for multitasking over the last few decades.
2858 Perl attempts to flush all files opened for output before forking the
2859 child process, but this may not be supported on some platforms (see
2860 L<perlport>). To be safe, you may need to set
2861 L<C<$E<verbar>>|perlvar/$E<verbar>> (C<$AUTOFLUSH> in L<English>) or
2862 call the C<autoflush> method of L<C<IO::Handle>|IO::Handle/METHODS> on
2863 any open handles to avoid duplicate output.
2865 If you L<C<fork>|/fork> without ever waiting on your children, you will
2866 accumulate zombies. On some systems, you can avoid this by setting
2867 L<C<$SIG{CHLD}>|perlvar/%SIG> to C<"IGNORE">. See also L<perlipc> for
2868 more examples of forking and reaping moribund children.
2870 Note that if your forked child inherits system file descriptors like
2871 STDIN and STDOUT that are actually connected by a pipe or socket, even
2872 if you exit, then the remote server (such as, say, a CGI script or a
2873 backgrounded job launched from a remote shell) won't think you're done.
2874 You should reopen those to F</dev/null> if it's any issue.
2876 On some platforms such as Windows, where the L<fork(2)> system call is
2877 not available, Perl can be built to emulate L<C<fork>|/fork> in the Perl
2878 interpreter. The emulation is designed, at the level of the Perl
2879 program, to be as compatible as possible with the "Unix" L<fork(2)>.
2880 However it has limitations that have to be considered in code intended
2881 to be portable. See L<perlfork> for more details.
2883 Portability issues: L<perlport/fork>.
2888 =for Pod::Functions declare a picture format with use by the write() function
2890 Declare a picture format for use by the L<C<write>|/write FILEHANDLE>
2891 function. For example:
2894 Test: @<<<<<<<< @||||| @>>>>>
2895 $str, $%, '$' . int($num)
2899 $num = $cost/$quantity;
2903 See L<perlform> for many details and examples.
2905 =item formline PICTURE,LIST
2908 =for Pod::Functions internal function used for formats
2910 This is an internal function used by L<C<format>|/format>s, though you
2911 may call it, too. It formats (see L<perlform>) a list of values
2912 according to the contents of PICTURE, placing the output into the format
2913 output accumulator, L<C<$^A>|perlvar/$^A> (or C<$ACCUMULATOR> in
2914 L<English>). Eventually, when a L<C<write>|/write FILEHANDLE> is done,
2915 the contents of L<C<$^A>|perlvar/$^A> are written to some filehandle.
2916 You could also read L<C<$^A>|perlvar/$^A> and then set
2917 L<C<$^A>|perlvar/$^A> back to C<"">. Note that a format typically does
2918 one L<C<formline>|/formline PICTURE,LIST> per line of form, but the
2919 L<C<formline>|/formline PICTURE,LIST> function itself doesn't care how
2920 many newlines are embedded in the PICTURE. This means that the C<~> and
2921 C<~~> tokens treat the entire PICTURE as a single line. You may
2922 therefore need to use multiple formlines to implement a single record
2923 format, just like the L<C<format>|/format> compiler.
2925 Be careful if you put double quotes around the picture, because an C<@>
2926 character may be taken to mean the beginning of an array name.
2927 L<C<formline>|/formline PICTURE,LIST> always returns true. See
2928 L<perlform> for other examples.
2930 If you are trying to use this instead of L<C<write>|/write FILEHANDLE>
2931 to capture the output, you may find it easier to open a filehandle to a
2932 scalar (C<< open my $fh, ">", \$output >>) and write to that instead.
2934 =item getc FILEHANDLE
2935 X<getc> X<getchar> X<character> X<file, read>
2939 =for Pod::Functions get the next character from the filehandle
2941 Returns the next character from the input file attached to FILEHANDLE,
2942 or the undefined value at end of file or if there was an error (in
2943 the latter case L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> is set). If FILEHANDLE is omitted,
2945 STDIN. This is not particularly efficient. However, it cannot be
2946 used by itself to fetch single characters without waiting for the user
2947 to hit enter. For that, try something more like:
2950 system "stty cbreak </dev/tty >/dev/tty 2>&1";
2953 system "stty", '-icanon', 'eol', "\001";
2956 my $key = getc(STDIN);
2959 system "stty -cbreak </dev/tty >/dev/tty 2>&1";
2962 system 'stty', 'icanon', 'eol', '^@'; # ASCII NUL
2966 Determination of whether C<$BSD_STYLE> should be set is left as an
2967 exercise to the reader.
2969 The L<C<POSIX::getattr>|POSIX/C<getattr>> function can do this more
2970 portably on systems purporting POSIX compliance. See also the
2971 L<C<Term::ReadKey>|Term::ReadKey> module on CPAN.
2974 X<getlogin> X<login>
2976 =for Pod::Functions return who logged in at this tty
2978 This implements the C library function of the same name, which on most
2979 systems returns the current login from F</etc/utmp>, if any. If it
2980 returns the empty string, use L<C<getpwuid>|/getpwuid UID>.
2982 my $login = getlogin || getpwuid($<) || "Kilroy";
2984 Do not consider L<C<getlogin>|/getlogin> for authentication: it is not
2985 as secure as L<C<getpwuid>|/getpwuid UID>.
2987 Portability issues: L<perlport/getlogin>.
2989 =item getpeername SOCKET
2990 X<getpeername> X<peer>
2992 =for Pod::Functions find the other end of a socket connection
2994 Returns the packed sockaddr address of the other end of the SOCKET
2998 my $hersockaddr = getpeername($sock);
2999 my ($port, $iaddr) = sockaddr_in($hersockaddr);
3000 my $herhostname = gethostbyaddr($iaddr, AF_INET);
3001 my $herstraddr = inet_ntoa($iaddr);
3006 =for Pod::Functions get process group
3008 Returns the current process group for the specified PID. Use
3009 a PID of C<0> to get the current process group for the
3010 current process. Will raise an exception if used on a machine that
3011 doesn't implement L<getpgrp(2)>. If PID is omitted, returns the process
3012 group of the current process. Note that the POSIX version of
3013 L<C<getpgrp>|/getpgrp PID> does not accept a PID argument, so only
3014 C<PID==0> is truly portable.
3016 Portability issues: L<perlport/getpgrp>.
3019 X<getppid> X<parent> X<pid>
3021 =for Pod::Functions get parent process ID
3023 Returns the process id of the parent process.
3025 Note for Linux users: Between v5.8.1 and v5.16.0 Perl would work
3026 around non-POSIX thread semantics the minority of Linux systems (and
3027 Debian GNU/kFreeBSD systems) that used LinuxThreads, this emulation
3028 has since been removed. See the documentation for L<$$|perlvar/$$> for
3031 Portability issues: L<perlport/getppid>.
3033 =item getpriority WHICH,WHO
3034 X<getpriority> X<priority> X<nice>
3036 =for Pod::Functions get current nice value
3038 Returns the current priority for a process, a process group, or a user.
3039 (See L<getpriority(2)>.) Will raise a fatal exception if used on a
3040 machine that doesn't implement L<getpriority(2)>.
3042 C<WHICH> can be any of C<PRIO_PROCESS>, C<PRIO_PGRP> or C<PRIO_USER>
3043 imported from L<POSIX/RESOURCE CONSTANTS>.
3045 Portability issues: L<perlport/getpriority>.
3048 X<getpwnam> X<getgrnam> X<gethostbyname> X<getnetbyname> X<getprotobyname>
3049 X<getpwuid> X<getgrgid> X<getservbyname> X<gethostbyaddr> X<getnetbyaddr>
3050 X<getprotobynumber> X<getservbyport> X<getpwent> X<getgrent> X<gethostent>
3051 X<getnetent> X<getprotoent> X<getservent> X<setpwent> X<setgrent> X<sethostent>
3052 X<setnetent> X<setprotoent> X<setservent> X<endpwent> X<endgrent> X<endhostent>
3053 X<endnetent> X<endprotoent> X<endservent>
3055 =for Pod::Functions get passwd record given user login name
3059 =for Pod::Functions get group record given group name
3061 =item gethostbyname NAME
3063 =for Pod::Functions get host record given name
3065 =item getnetbyname NAME
3067 =for Pod::Functions get networks record given name
3069 =item getprotobyname NAME
3071 =for Pod::Functions get protocol record given name
3075 =for Pod::Functions get passwd record given user ID
3079 =for Pod::Functions get group record given group user ID
3081 =item getservbyname NAME,PROTO
3083 =for Pod::Functions get services record given its name
3085 =item gethostbyaddr ADDR,ADDRTYPE
3087 =for Pod::Functions get host record given its address
3089 =item getnetbyaddr ADDR,ADDRTYPE
3091 =for Pod::Functions get network record given its address
3093 =item getprotobynumber NUMBER
3095 =for Pod::Functions get protocol record numeric protocol
3097 =item getservbyport PORT,PROTO
3099 =for Pod::Functions get services record given numeric port
3103 =for Pod::Functions get next passwd record
3107 =for Pod::Functions get next group record
3111 =for Pod::Functions get next hosts record
3115 =for Pod::Functions get next networks record
3119 =for Pod::Functions get next protocols record
3123 =for Pod::Functions get next services record
3127 =for Pod::Functions prepare passwd file for use
3131 =for Pod::Functions prepare group file for use
3133 =item sethostent STAYOPEN
3135 =for Pod::Functions prepare hosts file for use
3137 =item setnetent STAYOPEN
3139 =for Pod::Functions prepare networks file for use
3141 =item setprotoent STAYOPEN
3143 =for Pod::Functions prepare protocols file for use
3145 =item setservent STAYOPEN
3147 =for Pod::Functions prepare services file for use
3151 =for Pod::Functions be done using passwd file
3155 =for Pod::Functions be done using group file
3159 =for Pod::Functions be done using hosts file
3163 =for Pod::Functions be done using networks file
3167 =for Pod::Functions be done using protocols file
3171 =for Pod::Functions be done using services file
3173 These routines are the same as their counterparts in the
3174 system C library. In list context, the return values from the
3175 various get routines are as follows:
3178 my ( $name, $passwd, $gid, $members ) = getgr*
3179 my ( $name, $aliases, $addrtype, $net ) = getnet*
3180 my ( $name, $aliases, $port, $proto ) = getserv*
3181 my ( $name, $aliases, $proto ) = getproto*
3182 my ( $name, $aliases, $addrtype, $length, @addrs ) = gethost*
3183 my ( $name, $passwd, $uid, $gid, $quota,
3184 $comment, $gcos, $dir, $shell, $expire ) = getpw*
3187 (If the entry doesn't exist, the return value is a single meaningless true
3190 The exact meaning of the $gcos field varies but it usually contains
3191 the real name of the user (as opposed to the login name) and other
3192 information pertaining to the user. Beware, however, that in many
3193 system users are able to change this information and therefore it
3194 cannot be trusted and therefore the $gcos is tainted (see
3195 L<perlsec>). The $passwd and $shell, user's encrypted password and
3196 login shell, are also tainted, for the same reason.
3198 In scalar context, you get the name, unless the function was a
3199 lookup by name, in which case you get the other thing, whatever it is.
3200 (If the entry doesn't exist you get the undefined value.) For example:
3202 my $uid = getpwnam($name);
3203 my $name = getpwuid($num);
3204 my $name = getpwent();
3205 my $gid = getgrnam($name);
3206 my $name = getgrgid($num);
3207 my $name = getgrent();
3210 In I<getpw*()> the fields $quota, $comment, and $expire are special
3211 in that they are unsupported on many systems. If the
3212 $quota is unsupported, it is an empty scalar. If it is supported, it
3213 usually encodes the disk quota. If the $comment field is unsupported,
3214 it is an empty scalar. If it is supported it usually encodes some
3215 administrative comment about the user. In some systems the $quota
3216 field may be $change or $age, fields that have to do with password
3217 aging. In some systems the $comment field may be $class. The $expire
3218 field, if present, encodes the expiration period of the account or the
3219 password. For the availability and the exact meaning of these fields
3220 in your system, please consult L<getpwnam(3)> and your system's
3221 F<pwd.h> file. You can also find out from within Perl what your
3222 $quota and $comment fields mean and whether you have the $expire field
3223 by using the L<C<Config>|Config> module and the values C<d_pwquota>, C<d_pwage>,
3224 C<d_pwchange>, C<d_pwcomment>, and C<d_pwexpire>. Shadow password
3225 files are supported only if your vendor has implemented them in the
3226 intuitive fashion that calling the regular C library routines gets the
3227 shadow versions if you're running under privilege or if there exists
3228 the L<shadow(3)> functions as found in System V (this includes Solaris
3229 and Linux). Those systems that implement a proprietary shadow password
3230 facility are unlikely to be supported.
3232 The $members value returned by I<getgr*()> is a space-separated list of
3233 the login names of the members of the group.
3235 For the I<gethost*()> functions, if the C<h_errno> variable is supported in
3236 C, it will be returned to you via L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> if the function
3238 C<@addrs> value returned by a successful call is a list of raw
3239 addresses returned by the corresponding library call. In the
3240 Internet domain, each address is four bytes long; you can unpack it
3241 by saying something like:
3243 my ($w,$x,$y,$z) = unpack('W4',$addr[0]);
3245 The Socket library makes this slightly easier:
3248 my $iaddr = inet_aton("127.1"); # or whatever address
3249 my $name = gethostbyaddr($iaddr, AF_INET);
3251 # or going the other way
3252 my $straddr = inet_ntoa($iaddr);
3254 In the opposite way, to resolve a hostname to the IP address
3258 my $packed_ip = gethostbyname("www.perl.org");
3260 if (defined $packed_ip) {
3261 $ip_address = inet_ntoa($packed_ip);
3264 Make sure L<C<gethostbyname>|/gethostbyname NAME> is called in SCALAR
3265 context and that its return value is checked for definedness.
3267 The L<C<getprotobynumber>|/getprotobynumber NUMBER> function, even
3268 though it only takes one argument, has the precedence of a list
3269 operator, so beware:
3271 getprotobynumber $number eq 'icmp' # WRONG
3272 getprotobynumber($number eq 'icmp') # actually means this
3273 getprotobynumber($number) eq 'icmp' # better this way
3275 If you get tired of remembering which element of the return list
3276 contains which return value, by-name interfaces are provided in standard
3277 modules: L<C<File::stat>|File::stat>, L<C<Net::hostent>|Net::hostent>,
3278 L<C<Net::netent>|Net::netent>, L<C<Net::protoent>|Net::protoent>,
3279 L<C<Net::servent>|Net::servent>, L<C<Time::gmtime>|Time::gmtime>,
3280 L<C<Time::localtime>|Time::localtime>, and
3281 L<C<User::grent>|User::grent>. These override the normal built-ins,
3282 supplying versions that return objects with the appropriate names for
3283 each field. For example:
3287 my $is_his = (stat($filename)->uid == pwent($whoever)->uid);
3289 Even though it looks as though they're the same method calls (uid),
3290 they aren't, because a C<File::stat> object is different from
3291 a C<User::pwent> object.
3293 Many of these functions are not safe in a multi-threaded environment
3294 where more than one thread can be using them. In particular, functions
3295 like C<getpwent()> iterate per-process and not per-thread, so if two
3296 threads are simultaneously iterating, neither will get all the records.
3298 Some systems have thread-safe versions of some of the functions, such as
3299 C<getpwnam_r()> instead of C<getpwnam()>. There, Perl automatically and
3300 invisibly substitutes the thread-safe version, without notice. This
3301 means that code that safely runs on some systems can fail on others that
3302 lack the thread-safe versions.
3304 Portability issues: L<perlport/getpwnam> to L<perlport/endservent>.
3306 =item getsockname SOCKET
3309 =for Pod::Functions retrieve the sockaddr for a given socket
3311 Returns the packed sockaddr address of this end of the SOCKET connection,
3312 in case you don't know the address because you have several different
3313 IPs that the connection might have come in on.
3316 my $mysockaddr = getsockname($sock);
3317 my ($port, $myaddr) = sockaddr_in($mysockaddr);
3318 printf "Connect to %s [%s]\n",
3319 scalar gethostbyaddr($myaddr, AF_INET),
3322 =item getsockopt SOCKET,LEVEL,OPTNAME
3325 =for Pod::Functions get socket options on a given socket
3327 Queries the option named OPTNAME associated with SOCKET at a given LEVEL.
3328 Options may exist at multiple protocol levels depending on the socket
3329 type, but at least the uppermost socket level SOL_SOCKET (defined in the
3330 L<C<Socket>|Socket> module) will exist. To query options at another
3331 level the protocol number of the appropriate protocol controlling the
3332 option should be supplied. For example, to indicate that an option is
3333 to be interpreted by the TCP protocol, LEVEL should be set to the
3334 protocol number of TCP, which you can get using
3335 L<C<getprotobyname>|/getprotobyname NAME>.
3337 The function returns a packed string representing the requested socket
3338 option, or L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> on error, with the reason for the
3339 error placed in L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!>. Just what is in the packed string
3340 depends on LEVEL and OPTNAME; consult L<getsockopt(2)> for details. A
3341 common case is that the option is an integer, in which case the result
3342 is a packed integer, which you can decode using
3343 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR> with the C<i> (or C<I>) format.
3345 Here's an example to test whether Nagle's algorithm is enabled on a socket:
3347 use Socket qw(:all);
3349 defined(my $tcp = getprotobyname("tcp"))
3350 or die "Could not determine the protocol number for tcp";
3351 # my $tcp = IPPROTO_TCP; # Alternative
3352 my $packed = getsockopt($socket, $tcp, TCP_NODELAY)
3353 or die "getsockopt TCP_NODELAY: $!";
3354 my $nodelay = unpack("I", $packed);
3355 print "Nagle's algorithm is turned ",
3356 $nodelay ? "off\n" : "on\n";
3358 Portability issues: L<perlport/getsockopt>.
3361 X<glob> X<wildcard> X<filename, expansion> X<expand>
3365 =for Pod::Functions expand filenames using wildcards
3367 In list context, returns a (possibly empty) list of filename expansions on
3368 the value of EXPR such as the standard Unix shell F</bin/csh> would do. In
3369 scalar context, glob iterates through such filename expansions, returning
3370 undef when the list is exhausted. This is the internal function
3371 implementing the C<< <*.c> >> operator, but you can use it directly. If
3372 EXPR is omitted, L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> is used. The C<< <*.c> >> operator
3373 is discussed in more detail in L<perlop/"I/O Operators">.
3375 Note that L<C<glob>|/glob EXPR> splits its arguments on whitespace and
3377 each segment as separate pattern. As such, C<glob("*.c *.h")>
3378 matches all files with a F<.c> or F<.h> extension. The expression
3379 C<glob(".* *")> matches all files in the current working directory.
3380 If you want to glob filenames that might contain whitespace, you'll
3381 have to use extra quotes around the spacey filename to protect it.
3382 For example, to glob filenames that have an C<e> followed by a space
3383 followed by an C<f>, use one of:
3385 my @spacies = <"*e f*">;
3386 my @spacies = glob '"*e f*"';
3387 my @spacies = glob q("*e f*");
3389 If you had to get a variable through, you could do this:
3391 my @spacies = glob "'*${var}e f*'";
3392 my @spacies = glob qq("*${var}e f*");
3394 If non-empty braces are the only wildcard characters used in the
3395 L<C<glob>|/glob EXPR>, no filenames are matched, but potentially many
3396 strings are returned. For example, this produces nine strings, one for
3397 each pairing of fruits and colors:
3399 my @many = glob "{apple,tomato,cherry}={green,yellow,red}";
3401 This operator is implemented using the standard C<File::Glob> extension.
3402 See L<File::Glob> for details, including
3403 L<C<bsd_glob>|File::Glob/C<bsd_glob>>, which does not treat whitespace
3404 as a pattern separator.
3406 If a C<glob> expression is used as the condition of a C<while> or C<for>
3407 loop, then it will be implicitly assigned to C<$_>. If either a C<glob>
3408 expression or an explicit assignment of a C<glob> expression to a scalar
3409 is used as a C<while>/C<for> condition, then the condition actually
3410 tests for definedness of the expression's value, not for its regular
3413 Portability issues: L<perlport/glob>.
3416 X<gmtime> X<UTC> X<Greenwich>
3420 =for Pod::Functions convert UNIX time into record or string using Greenwich time
3422 Works just like L<C<localtime>|/localtime EXPR> but the returned values
3423 are localized for the standard Greenwich time zone.
3425 Note: When called in list context, $isdst, the last value
3426 returned by gmtime, is always C<0>. There is no
3427 Daylight Saving Time in GMT.
3429 Portability issues: L<perlport/gmtime>.
3432 X<goto> X<jump> X<jmp>
3438 =for Pod::Functions create spaghetti code
3440 The C<goto LABEL> form finds the statement labeled with LABEL and
3441 resumes execution there. It can't be used to get out of a block or
3442 subroutine given to L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST>. It can be used to go
3443 almost anywhere else within the dynamic scope, including out of
3444 subroutines, but it's usually better to use some other construct such as
3445 L<C<last>|/last LABEL> or L<C<die>|/die LIST>. The author of Perl has
3446 never felt the need to use this form of L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL> (in Perl,
3447 that is; C is another matter). (The difference is that C does not offer
3448 named loops combined with loop control. Perl does, and this replaces
3449 most structured uses of L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL> in other languages.)
3451 The C<goto EXPR> form expects to evaluate C<EXPR> to a code reference or
3452 a label name. If it evaluates to a code reference, it will be handled
3453 like C<goto &NAME>, below. This is especially useful for implementing
3454 tail recursion via C<goto __SUB__>.
3456 If the expression evaluates to a label name, its scope will be resolved
3457 dynamically. This allows for computed L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL>s per
3458 FORTRAN, but isn't necessarily recommended if you're optimizing for
3461 goto ("FOO", "BAR", "GLARCH")[$i];
3463 As shown in this example, C<goto EXPR> is exempt from the "looks like a
3464 function" rule. A pair of parentheses following it does not (necessarily)
3465 delimit its argument. C<goto("NE")."XT"> is equivalent to C<goto NEXT>.
3466 Also, unlike most named operators, this has the same precedence as
3469 Use of C<goto LABEL> or C<goto EXPR> to jump into a construct is
3470 deprecated and will issue a warning. Even then, it may not be used to
3471 go into any construct that requires initialization, such as a
3472 subroutine, a C<foreach> loop, or a C<given>
3473 block. In general, it may not be used to jump into the parameter
3474 of a binary or list operator, but it may be used to jump into the
3475 I<first> parameter of a binary operator. (The C<=>
3476 assignment operator's "first" operand is its right-hand
3477 operand.) It also can't be used to go into a
3478 construct that is optimized away.
3480 The C<goto &NAME> form is quite different from the other forms of
3481 L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL>. In fact, it isn't a goto in the normal sense at
3482 all, and doesn't have the stigma associated with other gotos. Instead,
3483 it exits the current subroutine (losing any changes set by
3484 L<C<local>|/local EXPR>) and immediately calls in its place the named
3485 subroutine using the current value of L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_>. This is used
3486 by C<AUTOLOAD> subroutines that wish to load another subroutine and then
3487 pretend that the other subroutine had been called in the first place
3488 (except that any modifications to L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_> in the current
3489 subroutine are propagated to the other subroutine.) After the
3490 L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL>, not even L<C<caller>|/caller EXPR> will be able
3491 to tell that this routine was called first.
3493 NAME needn't be the name of a subroutine; it can be a scalar variable
3494 containing a code reference or a block that evaluates to a code
3497 =item grep BLOCK LIST
3500 =item grep EXPR,LIST
3502 =for Pod::Functions locate elements in a list test true against a given criterion
3504 This is similar in spirit to, but not the same as, L<grep(1)> and its
3505 relatives. In particular, it is not limited to using regular expressions.
3507 Evaluates the BLOCK or EXPR for each element of LIST (locally setting
3508 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> to each element) and returns the list value
3510 elements for which the expression evaluated to true. In scalar
3511 context, returns the number of times the expression was true.
3513 my @foo = grep(!/^#/, @bar); # weed out comments
3517 my @foo = grep {!/^#/} @bar; # weed out comments
3519 Note that L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> is an alias to the list value, so it can
3521 modify the elements of the LIST. While this is useful and supported,
3522 it can cause bizarre results if the elements of LIST are not variables.
3523 Similarly, grep returns aliases into the original list, much as a for
3524 loop's index variable aliases the list elements. That is, modifying an
3525 element of a list returned by grep (for example, in a C<foreach>,
3526 L<C<map>|/map BLOCK LIST> or another L<C<grep>|/grep BLOCK LIST>)
3527 actually modifies the element in the original list.
3528 This is usually something to be avoided when writing clear code.
3530 See also L<C<map>|/map BLOCK LIST> for a list composed of the results of
3534 X<hex> X<hexadecimal>
3538 =for Pod::Functions convert a hexadecimal string to a number
3540 Interprets EXPR as a hex string and returns the corresponding numeric value.
3541 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
3543 print hex '0xAf'; # prints '175'
3544 print hex 'aF'; # same
3545 $valid_input =~ /\A(?:0?[xX])?(?:_?[0-9a-fA-F])*\z/
3547 A hex string consists of hex digits and an optional C<0x> or C<x> prefix.
3548 Each hex digit may be preceded by a single underscore, which will be ignored.
3549 Any other character triggers a warning and causes the rest of the string
3550 to be ignored (even leading whitespace, unlike L<C<oct>|/oct EXPR>).
3551 Only integers can be represented, and integer overflow triggers a warning.
3553 To convert strings that might start with any of C<0>, C<0x>, or C<0b>,
3554 see L<C<oct>|/oct EXPR>. To present something as hex, look into
3555 L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST>,
3556 L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST>, and
3557 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>.
3562 =for Pod::Functions patch a module's namespace into your own
3564 There is no builtin L<C<import>|/import LIST> function. It is just an
3565 ordinary method (subroutine) defined (or inherited) by modules that wish
3566 to export names to another module. The
3567 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> function calls the
3568 L<C<import>|/import LIST> method for the package used. See also
3569 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>, L<perlmod>, and L<Exporter>.
3571 =item index STR,SUBSTR,POSITION
3572 X<index> X<indexOf> X<InStr>
3574 =item index STR,SUBSTR
3576 =for Pod::Functions find a substring within a string
3578 The index function searches for one string within another, but without
3579 the wildcard-like behavior of a full regular-expression pattern match.
3580 It returns the position of the first occurrence of SUBSTR in STR at
3581 or after POSITION. If POSITION is omitted, starts searching from the
3582 beginning of the string. POSITION before the beginning of the string
3583 or after its end is treated as if it were the beginning or the end,
3584 respectively. POSITION and the return value are based at zero.
3585 If the substring is not found, L<C<index>|/index STR,SUBSTR,POSITION>
3588 Find characters or strings:
3590 index("Perl is great", "P"); # Returns 0
3591 index("Perl is great", "g"); # Returns 8
3592 index("Perl is great", "great"); # Also returns 8
3594 Attempting to find something not there:
3596 index("Perl is great", "Z"); # Returns -1 (not found)
3598 Using an offset to find the I<second> occurrence:
3600 index("Perl is great", "e", 5); # Returns 10
3603 X<int> X<integer> X<truncate> X<trunc> X<floor>
3607 =for Pod::Functions get the integer portion of a number
3609 Returns the integer portion of EXPR. If EXPR is omitted, uses
3610 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
3611 You should not use this function for rounding: one because it truncates
3612 towards C<0>, and two because machine representations of floating-point
3613 numbers can sometimes produce counterintuitive results. For example,
3614 C<int(-6.725/0.025)> produces -268 rather than the correct -269; that's
3615 because it's really more like -268.99999999999994315658 instead. Usually,
3616 the L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST>,
3617 L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST>, or the
3618 L<C<POSIX::floor>|POSIX/C<floor>> and L<C<POSIX::ceil>|POSIX/C<ceil>>
3619 functions will serve you better than will L<C<int>|/int EXPR>.
3621 =item ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR
3624 =for Pod::Functions system-dependent device control system call
3626 Implements the L<ioctl(2)> function. You'll probably first have to say
3628 require "sys/ioctl.ph"; # probably in
3629 # $Config{archlib}/sys/ioctl.ph
3631 to get the correct function definitions. If F<sys/ioctl.ph> doesn't
3632 exist or doesn't have the correct definitions you'll have to roll your
3633 own, based on your C header files such as F<< <sys/ioctl.h> >>.
3634 (There is a Perl script called B<h2ph> that comes with the Perl kit that
3635 may help you in this, but it's nontrivial.) SCALAR will be read and/or
3636 written depending on the FUNCTION; a C pointer to the string value of SCALAR
3637 will be passed as the third argument of the actual
3638 L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR> call. (If SCALAR
3639 has no string value but does have a numeric value, that value will be
3640 passed rather than a pointer to the string value. To guarantee this to be
3641 true, add a C<0> to the scalar before using it.) The
3642 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST> and L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>
3643 functions may be needed to manipulate the values of structures used by
3644 L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>.
3646 The return value of L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR> (and
3647 L<C<fcntl>|/fcntl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>) is as follows:
3649 if OS returns: then Perl returns:
3651 0 string "0 but true"
3652 anything else that number
3654 Thus Perl returns true on success and false on failure, yet you can
3655 still easily determine the actual value returned by the operating
3658 my $retval = ioctl(...) || -1;
3659 printf "System returned %d\n", $retval;
3661 The special string C<"0 but true"> is exempt from
3662 L<C<Argument "..." isn't numeric>|perldiag/Argument "%s" isn't numeric%s>
3663 L<warnings> on improper numeric conversions.
3665 Portability issues: L<perlport/ioctl>.
3667 =item join EXPR,LIST
3670 =for Pod::Functions join a list into a string using a separator
3672 Joins the separate strings of LIST into a single string with fields
3673 separated by the value of EXPR, and returns that new string. Example:
3675 my $rec = join(':', $login,$passwd,$uid,$gid,$gcos,$home,$shell);
3677 Beware that unlike L<C<split>|/split E<sol>PATTERNE<sol>,EXPR,LIMIT>,
3678 L<C<join>|/join EXPR,LIST> doesn't take a pattern as its first argument.
3679 Compare L<C<split>|/split E<sol>PATTERNE<sol>,EXPR,LIMIT>.
3686 =for Pod::Functions retrieve list of indices from a hash
3688 Called in list context, returns a list consisting of all the keys of the
3689 named hash, or in Perl 5.12 or later only, the indices of an array. Perl
3690 releases prior to 5.12 will produce a syntax error if you try to use an
3691 array argument. In scalar context, returns the number of keys or indices.
3693 Hash entries are returned in an apparently random order. The actual random
3694 order is specific to a given hash; the exact same series of operations
3695 on two hashes may result in a different order for each hash. Any insertion
3696 into the hash may change the order, as will any deletion, with the exception
3697 that the most recent key returned by L<C<each>|/each HASH> or
3698 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> may be deleted without changing the order. So
3699 long as a given hash is unmodified you may rely on
3700 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>, L<C<values>|/values HASH> and L<C<each>|/each
3701 HASH> to repeatedly return the same order
3702 as each other. See L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> for
3703 details on why hash order is randomized. Aside from the guarantees
3704 provided here the exact details of Perl's hash algorithm and the hash
3705 traversal order are subject to change in any release of Perl. Tied hashes
3706 may behave differently to Perl's hashes with respect to changes in order on
3707 insertion and deletion of items.
3709 As a side effect, calling L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> resets the internal
3710 iterator of the HASH or ARRAY (see L<C<each>|/each HASH>) before
3711 yielding the keys. In
3712 particular, calling L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> in void context resets the
3713 iterator with no other overhead.
3715 Here is yet another way to print your environment:
3717 my @keys = keys %ENV;
3718 my @values = values %ENV;
3720 print pop(@keys), '=', pop(@values), "\n";
3723 or how about sorted by key:
3725 foreach my $key (sort(keys %ENV)) {
3726 print $key, '=', $ENV{$key}, "\n";
3729 The returned values are copies of the original keys in the hash, so
3730 modifying them will not affect the original hash. Compare
3731 L<C<values>|/values HASH>.
3733 To sort a hash by value, you'll need to use a
3734 L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST> function. Here's a descending numeric
3735 sort of a hash by its values:
3737 foreach my $key (sort { $hash{$b} <=> $hash{$a} } keys %hash) {
3738 printf "%4d %s\n", $hash{$key}, $key;
3741 Used as an lvalue, L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> allows you to increase the
3742 number of hash buckets
3743 allocated for the given hash. This can gain you a measure of efficiency if
3744 you know the hash is going to get big. (This is similar to pre-extending
3745 an array by assigning a larger number to $#array.) If you say
3749 then C<%hash> will have at least 200 buckets allocated for it--256 of them,
3750 in fact, since it rounds up to the next power of two. These
3751 buckets will be retained even if you do C<%hash = ()>, use C<undef
3752 %hash> if you want to free the storage while C<%hash> is still in scope.
3753 You can't shrink the number of buckets allocated for the hash using
3754 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> in this way (but you needn't worry about doing
3755 this by accident, as trying has no effect). C<keys @array> in an lvalue
3756 context is a syntax error.
3758 Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed
3759 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> to take a scalar expression. This experiment has
3760 been deemed unsuccessful, and was removed as of Perl 5.24.
3762 To avoid confusing would-be users of your code who are running earlier
3763 versions of Perl with mysterious syntax errors, put this sort of thing at
3764 the top of your file to signal that your code will work I<only> on Perls of
3767 use 5.012; # so keys/values/each work on arrays
3769 See also L<C<each>|/each HASH>, L<C<values>|/values HASH>, and
3770 L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST>.
3772 =item kill SIGNAL, LIST
3777 =for Pod::Functions send a signal to a process or process group
3779 Sends a signal to a list of processes. Returns the number of arguments
3780 that were successfully used to signal (which is not necessarily the same
3781 as the number of processes actually killed, e.g. where a process group is
3784 my $cnt = kill 'HUP', $child1, $child2;
3785 kill 'KILL', @goners;
3787 SIGNAL may be either a signal name (a string) or a signal number. A signal
3788 name may start with a C<SIG> prefix, thus C<FOO> and C<SIGFOO> refer to the
3789 same signal. The string form of SIGNAL is recommended for portability because
3790 the same signal may have different numbers in different operating systems.
3792 A list of signal names supported by the current platform can be found in
3793 C<$Config{sig_name}>, which is provided by the L<C<Config>|Config>
3794 module. See L<Config> for more details.
3796 A negative signal name is the same as a negative signal number, killing process
3797 groups instead of processes. For example, C<kill '-KILL', $pgrp> and
3798 C<kill -9, $pgrp> will send C<SIGKILL> to
3799 the entire process group specified. That
3800 means you usually want to use positive not negative signals.
3802 If SIGNAL is either the number 0 or the string C<ZERO> (or C<SIGZERO>),
3803 no signal is sent to the process, but L<C<kill>|/kill SIGNAL, LIST>
3804 checks whether it's I<possible> to send a signal to it
3805 (that means, to be brief, that the process is owned by the same user, or we are
3806 the super-user). This is useful to check that a child process is still
3807 alive (even if only as a zombie) and hasn't changed its UID. See
3808 L<perlport> for notes on the portability of this construct.
3810 The behavior of kill when a I<PROCESS> number is zero or negative depends on
3811 the operating system. For example, on POSIX-conforming systems, zero will
3812 signal the current process group, -1 will signal all processes, and any
3813 other negative PROCESS number will act as a negative signal number and
3814 kill the entire process group specified.
3816 If both the SIGNAL and the PROCESS are negative, the results are undefined.
3817 A warning may be produced in a future version.
3819 See L<perlipc/"Signals"> for more details.
3821 On some platforms such as Windows where the L<fork(2)> system call is not
3822 available, Perl can be built to emulate L<C<fork>|/fork> at the
3824 This emulation has limitations related to kill that have to be considered,
3825 for code running on Windows and in code intended to be portable.
3827 See L<perlfork> for more details.
3829 If there is no I<LIST> of processes, no signal is sent, and the return
3830 value is 0. This form is sometimes used, however, because it causes
3831 tainting checks to be run. But see
3832 L<perlsec/Laundering and Detecting Tainted Data>.
3834 Portability issues: L<perlport/kill>.
3843 =for Pod::Functions exit a block prematurely
3845 The L<C<last>|/last LABEL> command is like the C<break> statement in C
3847 loops); it immediately exits the loop in question. If the LABEL is
3848 omitted, the command refers to the innermost enclosing
3849 loop. The C<last EXPR> form, available starting in Perl
3850 5.18.0, allows a label name to be computed at run time,
3851 and is otherwise identical to C<last LABEL>. The
3852 L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> block, if any, is not executed:
3854 LINE: while (<STDIN>) {
3855 last LINE if /^$/; # exit when done with header
3859 L<C<last>|/last LABEL> cannot return a value from a block that typically
3860 returns a value, such as C<eval {}>, C<sub {}>, or C<do {}>. It will perform
3861 its flow control behavior, which precludes any return value. It should not be
3862 used to exit a L<C<grep>|/grep BLOCK LIST> or L<C<map>|/map BLOCK LIST>
3865 Note that a block by itself is semantically identical to a loop
3866 that executes once. Thus L<C<last>|/last LABEL> can be used to effect
3867 an early exit out of such a block.
3869 See also L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> for an illustration of how
3870 L<C<last>|/last LABEL>, L<C<next>|/next LABEL>, and
3871 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> work.
3873 Unlike most named operators, this has the same precedence as assignment.
3874 It is also exempt from the looks-like-a-function rule, so
3875 C<last ("foo")."bar"> will cause "bar" to be part of the argument to
3876 L<C<last>|/last LABEL>.
3883 =for Pod::Functions return lower-case version of a string
3885 Returns a lowercased version of EXPR. This is the internal function
3886 implementing the C<\L> escape in double-quoted strings.
3888 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
3890 What gets returned depends on several factors:
3894 =item If C<use bytes> is in effect:
3896 The results follow ASCII rules. Only the characters C<A-Z> change,
3897 to C<a-z> respectively.
3899 =item Otherwise, if C<use locale> for C<LC_CTYPE> is in effect:
3901 Respects current C<LC_CTYPE> locale for code points < 256; and uses Unicode
3902 rules for the remaining code points (this last can only happen if
3903 the UTF8 flag is also set). See L<perllocale>.
3905 Starting in v5.20, Perl uses full Unicode rules if the locale is
3906 UTF-8. Otherwise, there is a deficiency in this scheme, which is that
3907 case changes that cross the 255/256
3908 boundary are not well-defined. For example, the lower case of LATIN CAPITAL
3909 LETTER SHARP S (U+1E9E) in Unicode rules is U+00DF (on ASCII
3910 platforms). But under C<use locale> (prior to v5.20 or not a UTF-8
3911 locale), the lower case of U+1E9E is
3912 itself, because 0xDF may not be LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S in the
3913 current locale, and Perl has no way of knowing if that character even
3914 exists in the locale, much less what code point it is. Perl returns
3915 a result that is above 255 (almost always the input character unchanged),
3916 for all instances (and there aren't many) where the 255/256 boundary
3917 would otherwise be crossed; and starting in v5.22, it raises a
3918 L<locale|perldiag/Can't do %s("%s") on non-UTF-8 locale; resolved to "%s".> warning.
3920 =item Otherwise, If EXPR has the UTF8 flag set:
3922 Unicode rules are used for the case change.
3924 =item Otherwise, if C<use feature 'unicode_strings'> or C<use locale ':not_characters'> is in effect:
3926 Unicode rules are used for the case change.
3930 ASCII rules are used for the case change. The lowercase of any character
3931 outside the ASCII range is the character itself.
3936 X<lcfirst> X<lowercase>
3940 =for Pod::Functions return a string with just the next letter in lower case
3942 Returns the value of EXPR with the first character lowercased. This
3943 is the internal function implementing the C<\l> escape in
3944 double-quoted strings.
3946 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
3948 This function behaves the same way under various pragmas, such as in a locale,
3949 as L<C<lc>|/lc EXPR> does.
3956 =for Pod::Functions return the number of characters in a string
3958 Returns the length in I<characters> of the value of EXPR. If EXPR is
3959 omitted, returns the length of L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>. If EXPR is
3960 undefined, returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>.
3962 This function cannot be used on an entire array or hash to find out how
3963 many elements these have. For that, use C<scalar @array> and C<scalar keys
3964 %hash>, respectively.
3966 Like all Perl character operations, L<C<length>|/length EXPR> normally
3968 characters, not physical bytes. For how many bytes a string encoded as
3969 UTF-8 would take up, use C<length(Encode::encode('UTF-8', EXPR))>
3970 (you'll have to C<use Encode> first). See L<Encode> and L<perlunicode>.
3975 =for Pod::Functions the current source line number
3977 A special token that compiles to the current line number.
3978 It can be altered by the mechanism described at
3979 L<perlsyn/"Plain Old Comments (Not!)">.
3981 =item link OLDFILE,NEWFILE
3984 =for Pod::Functions create a hard link in the filesystem
3986 Creates a new filename linked to the old filename. Returns true for
3987 success, false otherwise.
3989 Portability issues: L<perlport/link>.
3991 =item listen SOCKET,QUEUESIZE
3994 =for Pod::Functions register your socket as a server
3996 Does the same thing that the L<listen(2)> system call does. Returns true if
3997 it succeeded, false otherwise. See the example in
3998 L<perlipc/"Sockets: Client/Server Communication">.
4003 =for Pod::Functions create a temporary value for a global variable (dynamic scoping)
4005 You really probably want to be using L<C<my>|/my VARLIST> instead,
4006 because L<C<local>|/local EXPR> isn't what most people think of as
4007 "local". See L<perlsub/"Private Variables via my()"> for details.
4009 A local modifies the listed variables to be local to the enclosing
4010 block, file, or eval. If more than one value is listed, the list must
4011 be placed in parentheses. See L<perlsub/"Temporary Values via local()">
4012 for details, including issues with tied arrays and hashes.
4014 The C<delete local EXPR> construct can also be used to localize the deletion
4015 of array/hash elements to the current block.
4016 See L<perlsub/"Localized deletion of elements of composite types">.
4018 =item localtime EXPR
4019 X<localtime> X<ctime>
4023 =for Pod::Functions convert UNIX time into record or string using local time
4025 Converts a time as returned by the time function to a 9-element list
4026 with the time analyzed for the local time zone. Typically used as
4030 my ($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,$yday,$isdst) =
4033 All list elements are numeric and come straight out of the C `struct
4034 tm'. C<$sec>, C<$min>, and C<$hour> are the seconds, minutes, and hours
4035 of the specified time.
4037 C<$mday> is the day of the month and C<$mon> the month in
4038 the range C<0..11>, with 0 indicating January and 11 indicating December.
4039 This makes it easy to get a month name from a list:
4041 my @abbr = qw(Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec);
4042 print "$abbr[$mon] $mday";
4043 # $mon=9, $mday=18 gives "Oct 18"
4045 C<$year> contains the number of years since 1900. To get a 4-digit
4050 To get the last two digits of the year (e.g., "01" in 2001) do:
4052 $year = sprintf("%02d", $year % 100);
4054 C<$wday> is the day of the week, with 0 indicating Sunday and 3 indicating
4055 Wednesday. C<$yday> is the day of the year, in the range C<0..364>
4056 (or C<0..365> in leap years.)
4058 C<$isdst> is true if the specified time occurs during Daylight Saving
4059 Time, false otherwise.
4061 If EXPR is omitted, L<C<localtime>|/localtime EXPR> uses the current
4062 time (as returned by L<C<time>|/time>).
4064 In scalar context, L<C<localtime>|/localtime EXPR> returns the
4067 my $now_string = localtime; # e.g., "Thu Oct 13 04:54:34 1994"
4069 The format of this scalar value is B<not> locale-dependent but built
4070 into Perl. For GMT instead of local time use the
4071 L<C<gmtime>|/gmtime EXPR> builtin. See also the
4072 L<C<Time::Local>|Time::Local> module (for converting seconds, minutes,
4073 hours, and such back to the integer value returned by L<C<time>|/time>),
4074 and the L<POSIX> module's L<C<strftime>|POSIX/C<strftime>> and
4075 L<C<mktime>|POSIX/C<mktime>> functions.
4077 To get somewhat similar but locale-dependent date strings, set up your
4078 locale environment variables appropriately (please see L<perllocale>) and
4081 use POSIX qw(strftime);
4082 my $now_string = strftime "%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Y", localtime;
4083 # or for GMT formatted appropriately for your locale:
4084 my $now_string = strftime "%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Y", gmtime;
4086 Note that C<%a> and C<%b>, the short forms of the day of the week
4087 and the month of the year, may not necessarily be three characters wide.
4089 The L<Time::gmtime> and L<Time::localtime> modules provide a convenient,
4090 by-name access mechanism to the L<C<gmtime>|/gmtime EXPR> and
4091 L<C<localtime>|/localtime EXPR> functions, respectively.
4093 For a comprehensive date and time representation look at the
4094 L<DateTime> module on CPAN.
4096 Portability issues: L<perlport/localtime>.
4101 =for Pod::Functions +5.005 get a thread lock on a variable, subroutine, or method
4103 This function places an advisory lock on a shared variable or referenced
4104 object contained in I<THING> until the lock goes out of scope.
4106 The value returned is the scalar itself, if the argument is a scalar, or a
4107 reference, if the argument is a hash, array or subroutine.
4109 L<C<lock>|/lock THING> is a "weak keyword"; this means that if you've
4111 by this name (before any calls to it), that function will be called
4112 instead. If you are not under C<use threads::shared> this does nothing.
4113 See L<threads::shared>.
4116 X<log> X<logarithm> X<e> X<ln> X<base>
4120 =for Pod::Functions retrieve the natural logarithm for a number
4122 Returns the natural logarithm (base I<e>) of EXPR. If EXPR is omitted,
4123 returns the log of L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>. To get the
4124 log of another base, use basic algebra:
4125 The base-N log of a number is equal to the natural log of that number
4126 divided by the natural log of N. For example:
4130 return log($n)/log(10);
4133 See also L<C<exp>|/exp EXPR> for the inverse operation.
4135 =item lstat FILEHANDLE
4140 =item lstat DIRHANDLE
4144 =for Pod::Functions stat a symbolic link
4146 Does the same thing as the L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE> function
4147 (including setting the special C<_> filehandle) but stats a symbolic
4148 link instead of the file the symbolic link points to. If symbolic links
4149 are unimplemented on your system, a normal L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE>
4150 is done. For much more detailed information, please see the
4151 documentation for L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE>.
4153 If EXPR is omitted, stats L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
4155 Portability issues: L<perlport/lstat>.
4159 =for Pod::Functions match a string with a regular expression pattern
4161 The match operator. See L<perlop/"Regexp Quote-Like Operators">.
4163 =item map BLOCK LIST
4168 =for Pod::Functions apply a change to a list to get back a new list with the changes
4170 Evaluates the BLOCK or EXPR for each element of LIST (locally setting
4171 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> to each element) and composes a list of the results of
4172 each such evaluation. Each element of LIST may produce zero, one, or more
4173 elements in the generated list, so the number of elements in the generated
4174 list may differ from that in LIST. In scalar context, returns the total
4175 number of elements so generated. In list context, returns the generated list.
4177 my @chars = map(chr, @numbers);
4179 translates a list of numbers to the corresponding characters.
4181 my @squares = map { $_ * $_ } @numbers;
4183 translates a list of numbers to their squared values.
4185 my @squares = map { $_ > 5 ? ($_ * $_) : () } @numbers;
4187 shows that number of returned elements can differ from the number of
4188 input elements. To omit an element, return an empty list ().
4189 This could also be achieved by writing
4191 my @squares = map { $_ * $_ } grep { $_ > 5 } @numbers;
4193 which makes the intention more clear.
4195 Map always returns a list, which can be
4196 assigned to a hash such that the elements
4197 become key/value pairs. See L<perldata> for more details.
4199 my %hash = map { get_a_key_for($_) => $_ } @array;
4201 is just a funny way to write
4205 $hash{get_a_key_for($_)} = $_;
4208 Note that L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> is an alias to the list value, so it can
4209 be used to modify the elements of the LIST. While this is useful and
4210 supported, it can cause bizarre results if the elements of LIST are not
4211 variables. Using a regular C<foreach> loop for this purpose would be
4212 clearer in most cases. See also L<C<grep>|/grep BLOCK LIST> for a
4213 list composed of those items of the original list for which the BLOCK
4214 or EXPR evaluates to true.
4216 C<{> starts both hash references and blocks, so C<map { ...> could be either
4217 the start of map BLOCK LIST or map EXPR, LIST. Because Perl doesn't look
4218 ahead for the closing C<}> it has to take a guess at which it's dealing with
4219 based on what it finds just after the
4220 C<{>. Usually it gets it right, but if it
4221 doesn't it won't realize something is wrong until it gets to the C<}> and
4222 encounters the missing (or unexpected) comma. The syntax error will be
4223 reported close to the C<}>, but you'll need to change something near the C<{>
4224 such as using a unary C<+> or semicolon to give Perl some help:
4226 my %hash = map { "\L$_" => 1 } @array # perl guesses EXPR. wrong
4227 my %hash = map { +"\L$_" => 1 } @array # perl guesses BLOCK. right
4228 my %hash = map {; "\L$_" => 1 } @array # this also works
4229 my %hash = map { ("\L$_" => 1) } @array # as does this
4230 my %hash = map { lc($_) => 1 } @array # and this.
4231 my %hash = map +( lc($_) => 1 ), @array # this is EXPR and works!
4233 my %hash = map ( lc($_), 1 ), @array # evaluates to (1, @array)
4235 or to force an anon hash constructor use C<+{>:
4237 my @hashes = map +{ lc($_) => 1 }, @array # EXPR, so needs
4240 to get a list of anonymous hashes each with only one entry apiece.
4242 =item mkdir FILENAME,MODE
4243 X<mkdir> X<md> X<directory, create>
4245 =item mkdir FILENAME
4249 =for Pod::Functions create a directory
4251 Creates the directory specified by FILENAME, with permissions
4252 specified by MODE (as modified by L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR>). If it
4253 succeeds it returns true; otherwise it returns false and sets
4254 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> (errno).
4255 MODE defaults to 0777 if omitted, and FILENAME defaults
4256 to L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> if omitted.
4258 In general, it is better to create directories with a permissive MODE
4259 and let the user modify that with their L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR> than it
4261 a restrictive MODE and give the user no way to be more permissive.
4262 The exceptions to this rule are when the file or directory should be
4263 kept private (mail files, for instance). The documentation for
4264 L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR> discusses the choice of MODE in more detail.
4266 Note that according to the POSIX 1003.1-1996 the FILENAME may have any
4267 number of trailing slashes. Some operating and filesystems do not get
4268 this right, so Perl automatically removes all trailing slashes to keep
4271 To recursively create a directory structure, look at
4272 the L<C<make_path>|File::Path/make_path( $dir1, $dir2, .... )> function
4273 of the L<File::Path> module.
4275 =item msgctl ID,CMD,ARG
4278 =for Pod::Functions SysV IPC message control operations
4280 Calls the System V IPC function L<msgctl(2)>. You'll probably have to say
4284 first to get the correct constant definitions. If CMD is C<IPC_STAT>,
4285 then ARG must be a variable that will hold the returned C<msqid_ds>
4286 structure. Returns like L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>:
4287 the undefined value for error, C<"0 but true"> for zero, or the actual
4288 return value otherwise. See also L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the
4289 documentation for L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV> and
4290 L<C<IPC::Semaphore>|IPC::Semaphore>.
4292 Portability issues: L<perlport/msgctl>.
4294 =item msgget KEY,FLAGS
4297 =for Pod::Functions get SysV IPC message queue
4299 Calls the System V IPC function L<msgget(2)>. Returns the message queue
4300 id, or L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> on error. See also L<perlipc/"SysV IPC">
4301 and the documentation for L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV> and
4302 L<C<IPC::Msg>|IPC::Msg>.
4304 Portability issues: L<perlport/msgget>.
4306 =item msgrcv ID,VAR,SIZE,TYPE,FLAGS
4309 =for Pod::Functions receive a SysV IPC message from a message queue
4311 Calls the System V IPC function msgrcv to receive a message from
4312 message queue ID into variable VAR with a maximum message size of
4313 SIZE. Note that when a message is received, the message type as a
4314 native long integer will be the first thing in VAR, followed by the
4315 actual message. This packing may be opened with C<unpack("l! a*")>.
4316 Taints the variable. Returns true if successful, false
4317 on error. See also L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the documentation for
4318 L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV> and L<C<IPC::Msg>|IPC::Msg>.
4320 Portability issues: L<perlport/msgrcv>.
4322 =item msgsnd ID,MSG,FLAGS
4325 =for Pod::Functions send a SysV IPC message to a message queue
4327 Calls the System V IPC function msgsnd to send the message MSG to the
4328 message queue ID. MSG must begin with the native long integer message
4329 type, be followed by the length of the actual message, and then finally
4330 the message itself. This kind of packing can be achieved with
4331 C<pack("l! a*", $type, $message)>. Returns true if successful,
4332 false on error. See also L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the documentation
4333 for L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV> and L<C<IPC::Msg>|IPC::Msg>.
4335 Portability issues: L<perlport/msgsnd>.
4340 =item my TYPE VARLIST
4342 =item my VARLIST : ATTRS
4344 =item my TYPE VARLIST : ATTRS
4346 =for Pod::Functions declare and assign a local variable (lexical scoping)
4348 A L<C<my>|/my VARLIST> declares the listed variables to be local
4349 (lexically) to the enclosing block, file, or L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>. If
4350 more than one variable is listed, the list must be placed in
4353 The exact semantics and interface of TYPE and ATTRS are still
4354 evolving. TYPE may be a bareword, a constant declared
4355 with L<C<use constant>|constant>, or L<C<__PACKAGE__>|/__PACKAGE__>. It
4357 currently bound to the use of the L<fields> pragma,
4358 and attributes are handled using the L<attributes> pragma, or starting
4359 from Perl 5.8.0 also via the L<Attribute::Handlers> module. See
4360 L<perlsub/"Private Variables via my()"> for details.
4362 Note that with a parenthesised list, L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> can be used
4363 as a dummy placeholder, for example to skip assignment of initial
4366 my ( undef, $min, $hour ) = localtime;
4375 =for Pod::Functions iterate a block prematurely
4377 The L<C<next>|/next LABEL> command is like the C<continue> statement in
4378 C; it starts the next iteration of the loop:
4380 LINE: while (<STDIN>) {
4381 next LINE if /^#/; # discard comments
4385 Note that if there were a L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> block on the
4387 executed even on discarded lines. If LABEL is omitted, the command
4388 refers to the innermost enclosing loop. The C<next EXPR> form, available
4389 as of Perl 5.18.0, allows a label name to be computed at run time, being
4390 otherwise identical to C<next LABEL>.
4392 L<C<next>|/next LABEL> cannot return a value from a block that typically
4393 returns a value, such as C<eval {}>, C<sub {}>, or C<do {}>. It will perform
4394 its flow control behavior, which precludes any return value. It should not be
4395 used to exit a L<C<grep>|/grep BLOCK LIST> or L<C<map>|/map BLOCK LIST>
4398 Note that a block by itself is semantically identical to a loop
4399 that executes once. Thus L<C<next>|/next LABEL> will exit such a block
4402 See also L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> for an illustration of how
4403 L<C<last>|/last LABEL>, L<C<next>|/next LABEL>, and
4404 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> work.
4406 Unlike most named operators, this has the same precedence as assignment.
4407 It is also exempt from the looks-like-a-function rule, so
4408 C<next ("foo")."bar"> will cause "bar" to be part of the argument to
4409 L<C<next>|/next LABEL>.
4411 =item no MODULE VERSION LIST
4415 =item no MODULE VERSION
4417 =item no MODULE LIST
4423 =for Pod::Functions unimport some module symbols or semantics at compile time
4425 See the L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> function, of which
4426 L<C<no>|/no MODULE VERSION LIST> is the opposite.
4429 X<oct> X<octal> X<hex> X<hexadecimal> X<binary> X<bin>
4433 =for Pod::Functions convert a string to an octal number
4435 Interprets EXPR as an octal string and returns the corresponding
4436 value. (If EXPR happens to start off with C<0x>, interprets it as a
4437 hex string. If EXPR starts off with C<0b>, it is interpreted as a
4438 binary string. Leading whitespace is ignored in all three cases.)
4439 The following will handle decimal, binary, octal, and hex in standard
4442 $val = oct($val) if $val =~ /^0/;
4444 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>. To go the other way
4445 (produce a number in octal), use L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST> or
4446 L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST>:
4448 my $dec_perms = (stat("filename"))[2] & 07777;
4449 my $oct_perm_str = sprintf "%o", $perms;
4451 The L<C<oct>|/oct EXPR> function is commonly used when a string such as
4453 to be converted into a file mode, for example. Although Perl
4454 automatically converts strings into numbers as needed, this automatic
4455 conversion assumes base 10.
4457 Leading white space is ignored without warning, as too are any trailing
4458 non-digits, such as a decimal point (L<C<oct>|/oct EXPR> only handles
4459 non-negative integers, not negative integers or floating point).
4461 =item open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR
4462 X<open> X<pipe> X<file, open> X<fopen>
4464 =item open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR,LIST
4466 =item open FILEHANDLE,MODE,REFERENCE
4468 =item open FILEHANDLE,EXPR
4470 =item open FILEHANDLE
4472 =for Pod::Functions open a file, pipe, or descriptor
4474 Associates an internal FILEHANDLE with the external file specified by
4475 EXPR. That filehandle will subsequently allow you to perform
4476 I/O operations on that file, such as reading from it or writing to it.
4478 Instead of a filename, you may specify an external command
4479 (plus an optional argument list) or a scalar reference, in order to open
4480 filehandles on commands or in-memory scalars, respectively.
4482 A thorough reference to C<open> follows. For a gentler introduction to
4483 the basics of C<open>, see also the L<perlopentut> manual page.
4487 =item Working with files
4489 Most often, C<open> gets invoked with three arguments: the required
4490 FILEHANDLE (usually an empty scalar variable), followed by MODE (usually
4491 a literal describing the I/O mode the filehandle will use), and then the
4492 filename that the new filehandle will refer to.
4496 =item Simple examples
4498 Reading from a file:
4500 open(my $fh, "<", "input.txt")
4501 or die "Can't open < input.txt: $!";
4503 # Process every line in input.txt
4504 while (my $line = <$fh>) {
4506 # ... do something interesting with $line here ...
4512 open(my $fh, ">", "output.txt")
4513 or die "Can't open > output.txt: $!";
4515 print $fh "This line gets printed into output.txt.\n";
4517 For a summary of common filehandle operations such as these, see
4518 L<perlintro/Files and I/O>.
4520 =item About filehandles
4522 The first argument to C<open>, labeled FILEHANDLE in this reference, is
4523 usually a scalar variable. (Exceptions exist, described in "Other
4524 considerations", below.) If the call to C<open> succeeds, then the
4525 expression provided as FILEHANDLE will get assigned an open
4526 I<filehandle>. That filehandle provides an internal reference to the
4527 specified external file, conveniently stored in a Perl variable, and
4528 ready for I/O operations such as reading and writing.
4532 When calling C<open> with three or more arguments, the second argument
4533 -- labeled MODE here -- defines the I<open mode>. MODE is usually a
4534 literal string comprising special characters that define the intended
4535 I/O role of the filehandle being created: whether it's read-only, or
4536 read-and-write, and so on.
4538 If MODE is C<< < >>, the file is opened for input (read-only).
4539 If MODE is C<< > >>, the file is opened for output, with existing files
4540 first being truncated ("clobbered") and nonexisting files newly created.
4541 If MODE is C<<< >> >>>, the file is opened for appending, again being
4542 created if necessary.
4544 You can put a C<+> in front of the C<< > >> or C<< < >> to
4545 indicate that you want both read and write access to the file; thus
4546 C<< +< >> is almost always preferred for read/write updates--the
4547 C<< +> >> mode would clobber the file first. You can't usually use
4548 either read-write mode for updating textfiles, since they have
4549 variable-length records. See the B<-i> switch in
4550 L<perlrun|perlrun/-i[extension]> for a better approach. The file is
4551 created with permissions of C<0666> modified by the process's
4552 L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR> value.
4554 These various prefixes correspond to the L<fopen(3)> modes of C<r>,
4555 C<r+>, C<w>, C<w+>, C<a>, and C<a+>.
4557 More examples of different modes in action:
4559 # Open a file for concatenation
4560 open(my $log, ">>", "/usr/spool/news/twitlog")
4561 or warn "Couldn't open log file; discarding input";
4563 # Open a file for reading and writing
4564 open(my $dbase, "+<", "dbase.mine")
4565 or die "Can't open 'dbase.mine' for update: $!";
4567 =item Checking the return value
4569 Open returns nonzero on success, the undefined value otherwise. If the
4570 C<open> involved a pipe, the return value happens to be the pid of the
4573 When opening a file, it's seldom a good idea to continue if the request
4574 failed, so C<open> is frequently used with L<C<die>|/die LIST>. Even if
4575 you want your code to do something other than C<die> on a failed open,
4576 you should still always check the return value from opening a file.
4580 =item Specifying I/O layers in MODE
4582 You can use the three-argument form of open to specify
4583 I/O layers (sometimes referred to as "disciplines") to apply to the new
4584 filehandle. These affect how the input and output are processed (see
4586 L<PerlIO> for more details). For example:
4588 open(my $fh, "<:encoding(UTF-8)", $filename)
4589 || die "Can't open UTF-8 encoded $filename: $!";
4591 This opens the UTF8-encoded file containing Unicode characters;
4592 see L<perluniintro>. Note that if layers are specified in the
4593 three-argument form, then default layers stored in
4594 L<C<${^OPEN}>|perlvar/${^OPEN}>
4595 (usually set by the L<open> pragma or the switch C<-CioD>) are ignored.
4596 Those layers will also be ignored if you specify a colon with no name
4597 following it. In that case the default layer for the operating system
4598 (:raw on Unix, :crlf on Windows) is used.
4600 On some systems (in general, DOS- and Windows-based systems)
4601 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER> is necessary when you're not
4602 working with a text file. For the sake of portability it is a good idea
4603 always to use it when appropriate, and never to use it when it isn't
4604 appropriate. Also, people can set their I/O to be by default
4605 UTF8-encoded Unicode, not bytes.
4607 =item Using C<undef> for temporary files
4609 As a special case the three-argument form with a read/write mode and the third
4610 argument being L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>:
4612 open(my $tmp, "+>", undef) or die ...
4614 opens a filehandle to a newly created empty anonymous temporary file.
4615 (This happens under any mode, which makes C<< +> >> the only useful and
4616 sensible mode to use.) You will need to
4617 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE> to do the reading.
4620 =item Opening a filehandle into an in-memory scalar
4622 You can open filehandles directly to Perl scalars instead of a file or
4623 other resource external to the program. To do so, provide a reference to
4624 that scalar as the third argument to C<open>, like so:
4626 open(my $memory, ">", \$var)
4627 or die "Can't open memory file: $!";
4628 print $memory "foo!\n"; # output will appear in $var
4630 To (re)open C<STDOUT> or C<STDERR> as an in-memory file, close it first:
4633 open(STDOUT, ">", \$variable)
4634 or die "Can't open STDOUT: $!";
4636 The scalars for in-memory files are treated as octet strings: unless
4637 the file is being opened with truncation the scalar may not contain
4638 any code points over 0xFF.
4640 Opening in-memory files I<can> fail for a variety of reasons. As with
4641 any other C<open>, check the return value for success.
4643 I<Technical note>: This feature works only when Perl is built with
4644 PerlIO -- the default, except with older (pre-5.16) Perl installations
4645 that were configured to not include it (e.g. via C<Configure
4646 -Uuseperlio>). You can see whether your Perl was built with PerlIO by
4647 running C<perl -V:useperlio>. If it says C<'define'>, you have PerlIO;
4648 otherwise you don't.
4650 See L<perliol> for detailed info on PerlIO.
4652 =item Opening a filehandle into a command
4654 If MODE is C<|->, then the filename is
4655 interpreted as a command to which output is to be piped, and if MODE
4656 is C<-|>, the filename is interpreted as a command that pipes
4657 output to us. In the two-argument (and one-argument) form, one should
4658 replace dash (C<->) with the command.
4659 See L<perlipc/"Using open() for IPC"> for more examples of this.
4660 (You are not allowed to L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> to a command
4661 that pipes both in I<and> out, but see L<IPC::Open2>, L<IPC::Open3>, and
4662 L<perlipc/"Bidirectional Communication with Another Process"> for
4666 open(my $article_fh, "-|", "caesar <$article") # decrypt
4668 or die "Can't start caesar: $!";
4670 open(my $article_fh, "caesar <$article |") # ditto
4671 or die "Can't start caesar: $!";
4673 open(my $out_fh, "|-", "sort >Tmp$$") # $$ is our process id
4674 or die "Can't start sort: $!";
4677 In the form of pipe opens taking three or more arguments, if LIST is specified
4678 (extra arguments after the command name) then LIST becomes arguments
4679 to the command invoked if the platform supports it. The meaning of
4680 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> with more than three arguments for
4681 non-pipe modes is not yet defined, but experimental "layers" may give
4682 extra LIST arguments meaning.
4684 If you open a pipe on the command C<-> (that is, specify either C<|-> or C<-|>
4685 with the one- or two-argument forms of
4686 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>), an implicit L<C<fork>|/fork> is done,
4687 so L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> returns twice: in the parent process
4689 of the child process, and in the child process it returns (a defined) C<0>.
4690 Use C<defined($pid)> or C<//> to determine whether the open was successful.
4692 For example, use either
4694 my $child_pid = open(my $from_kid, "-|")
4695 // die "Can't fork: $!";
4699 my $child_pid = open(my $to_kid, "|-")
4700 // die "Can't fork: $!";
4706 # either write $to_kid or else read $from_kid
4708 waitpid $child_pid, 0;
4710 # am the child; use STDIN/STDOUT normally
4715 The filehandle behaves normally for the parent, but I/O to that
4716 filehandle is piped from/to the STDOUT/STDIN of the child process.
4717 In the child process, the filehandle isn't opened--I/O happens from/to
4718 the new STDOUT/STDIN. Typically this is used like the normal
4719 piped open when you want to exercise more control over just how the
4720 pipe command gets executed, such as when running setuid and
4721 you don't want to have to scan shell commands for metacharacters.
4723 The following blocks are more or less equivalent:
4725 open(my $fh, "|tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]'");
4726 open(my $fh, "|-", "tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]'");
4727 open(my $fh, "|-") || exec 'tr', '[a-z]', '[A-Z]';
4728 open(my $fh, "|-", "tr", '[a-z]', '[A-Z]');
4730 open(my $fh, "cat -n '$file'|");
4731 open(my $fh, "-|", "cat -n '$file'");
4732 open(my $fh, "-|") || exec "cat", "-n", $file;
4733 open(my $fh, "-|", "cat", "-n", $file);
4735 The last two examples in each block show the pipe as "list form", which
4736 is not yet supported on all platforms. (If your platform has a real
4737 L<C<fork>|/fork>, such as Linux and macOS, you can use the list form; it
4738 also works on Windows with Perl 5.22 or later.) You would want to use
4739 the list form of the pipe so you can pass literal arguments to the
4740 command without risk of the shell interpreting any shell metacharacters
4741 in them. However, this also bars you from opening pipes to commands that
4742 intentionally contain shell metacharacters, such as:
4744 open(my $fh, "|cat -n | expand -4 | lpr")
4745 || die "Can't open pipeline to lpr: $!";
4747 See L<perlipc/"Safe Pipe Opens"> for more examples of this.
4749 =item Duping filehandles
4751 You may also, in the Bourne shell tradition, specify an EXPR beginning
4752 with C<< >& >>, in which case the rest of the string is interpreted
4753 as the name of a filehandle (or file descriptor, if numeric) to be
4754 duped (as in L<dup(2)>) and opened. You may use C<&> after C<< > >>,
4755 C<<< >> >>>, C<< < >>, C<< +> >>, C<<< +>> >>>, and C<< +< >>.
4756 The mode you specify should match the mode of the original filehandle.
4757 (Duping a filehandle does not take into account any existing contents
4758 of IO buffers.) If you use the three-argument
4759 form, then you can pass either a
4760 number, the name of a filehandle, or the normal "reference to a glob".
4762 Here is a script that saves, redirects, and restores C<STDOUT> and
4763 C<STDERR> using various methods:
4766 open(my $oldout, ">&STDOUT")
4767 or die "Can't dup STDOUT: $!";
4768 open(OLDERR, ">&", \*STDERR)
4769 or die "Can't dup STDERR: $!";
4771 open(STDOUT, '>', "foo.out")
4772 or die "Can't redirect STDOUT: $!";
4773 open(STDERR, ">&STDOUT")
4774 or die "Can't dup STDOUT: $!";
4776 select STDERR; $| = 1; # make unbuffered
4777 select STDOUT; $| = 1; # make unbuffered
4779 print STDOUT "stdout 1\n"; # this works for
4780 print STDERR "stderr 1\n"; # subprocesses too
4782 open(STDOUT, ">&", $oldout)
4783 or die "Can't dup \$oldout: $!";
4784 open(STDERR, ">&OLDERR")
4785 or die "Can't dup OLDERR: $!";
4787 print STDOUT "stdout 2\n";
4788 print STDERR "stderr 2\n";
4790 If you specify C<< '<&=X' >>, where C<X> is a file descriptor number
4791 or a filehandle, then Perl will do an equivalent of C's L<fdopen(3)> of
4792 that file descriptor (and not call L<dup(2)>); this is more
4793 parsimonious of file descriptors. For example:
4795 # open for input, reusing the fileno of $fd
4796 open(my $fh, "<&=", $fd)
4800 open(my $fh, "<&=$fd")
4804 # open for append, using the fileno of $oldfh
4805 open(my $fh, ">>&=", $oldfh)
4807 Being parsimonious on filehandles is also useful (besides being
4808 parsimonious) for example when something is dependent on file
4809 descriptors, like for example locking using
4810 L<C<flock>|/flock FILEHANDLE,OPERATION>. If you do just
4811 C<< open(my $A, ">>&", $B) >>, the filehandle C<$A> will not have the
4812 same file descriptor as C<$B>, and therefore C<flock($A)> will not
4813 C<flock($B)> nor vice versa. But with C<< open(my $A, ">>&=", $B) >>,
4814 the filehandles will share the same underlying system file descriptor.
4816 Note that under Perls older than 5.8.0, Perl uses the standard C library's'
4817 L<fdopen(3)> to implement the C<=> functionality. On many Unix systems,
4818 L<fdopen(3)> fails when file descriptors exceed a certain value, typically 255.
4819 For Perls 5.8.0 and later, PerlIO is (most often) the default.
4823 This section describes ways to call C<open> outside of best practices;
4824 you may encounter these uses in older code. Perl does not consider their
4825 use deprecated, exactly, but neither is it recommended in new code, for
4826 the sake of clarity and readability.
4830 =item Specifying mode and filename as a single argument
4832 In the one- and two-argument forms of the call, the mode and filename
4833 should be concatenated (in that order), preferably separated by white
4834 space. You can--but shouldn't--omit the mode in these forms when that mode
4835 is C<< < >>. It is safe to use the two-argument form of
4836 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> if the filename argument is a known literal.
4838 open(my $dbase, "+<dbase.mine") # ditto
4839 or die "Can't open 'dbase.mine' for update: $!";
4841 In the two-argument (and one-argument) form, opening C<< <- >>
4842 or C<-> opens STDIN and opening C<< >- >> opens STDOUT.
4844 New code should favor the three-argument form of C<open> over this older
4845 form. Declaring the mode and the filename as two distinct arguments
4846 avoids any confusion between the two.
4848 =item Calling C<open> with one argument via global variables
4850 As a shortcut, a one-argument call takes the filename from the global
4851 scalar variable of the same name as the filehandle:
4855 or die "Can't find article $ARTICLE: $!\n";
4857 Here C<$ARTICLE> must be a global (package) scalar variable - not one
4858 declared with L<C<my>|/my VARLIST> or L<C<state>|/state VARLIST>.
4860 =item Assigning a filehandle to a bareword
4862 An older style is to use a bareword as the filehandle, as
4864 open(FH, "<", "input.txt")
4865 or die "Can't open < input.txt: $!";
4867 Then you can use C<FH> as the filehandle, in C<< close FH >> and C<<
4868 <FH> >> and so on. Note that it's a global variable, so this form is
4869 not recommended when dealing with filehandles other than Perl's built-in ones (e.g. STDOUT and STDIN).
4873 =item Other considerations
4877 =item Automatic filehandle closure
4879 The filehandle will be closed when its reference count reaches zero. If
4880 it is a lexically scoped variable declared with L<C<my>|/my VARLIST>,
4881 that usually means the end of the enclosing scope. However, this
4882 automatic close does not check for errors, so it is better to explicitly
4883 close filehandles, especially those used for writing:
4886 || warn "close failed: $!";
4888 =item Automatic pipe flushing
4890 Perl will attempt to flush all files opened for
4891 output before any operation that may do a fork, but this may not be
4892 supported on some platforms (see L<perlport>). To be safe, you may need
4893 to set L<C<$E<verbar>>|perlvar/$E<verbar>> (C<$AUTOFLUSH> in L<English>)
4894 or call the C<autoflush> method of L<C<IO::Handle>|IO::Handle/METHODS>
4895 on any open handles.
4897 On systems that support a close-on-exec flag on files, the flag will
4898 be set for the newly opened file descriptor as determined by the value
4899 of L<C<$^F>|perlvar/$^F>. See L<perlvar/$^F>.
4901 Closing any piped filehandle causes the parent process to wait for the
4902 child to finish, then returns the status value in L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> and
4903 L<C<${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>|perlvar/${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>.
4905 =item Direct versus by-reference assignment of filehandles
4907 If FILEHANDLE -- the first argument in a call to C<open> -- is an
4908 undefined scalar variable (or array or hash element), a new filehandle
4909 is autovivified, meaning that the variable is assigned a reference to a
4910 newly allocated anonymous filehandle. Otherwise if FILEHANDLE is an
4911 expression, its value is the real filehandle. (This is considered a
4912 symbolic reference, so C<use strict "refs"> should I<not> be in effect.)
4914 =item Whitespace and special characters in the filename argument
4916 The filename passed to the one- and two-argument forms of
4917 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> will
4918 have leading and trailing whitespace deleted and normal
4919 redirection characters honored. This property, known as "magic open",
4920 can often be used to good effect. A user could specify a filename of
4921 F<"rsh cat file |">, or you could change certain filenames as needed:
4923 $filename =~ s/(.*\.gz)\s*$/gzip -dc < $1|/;
4924 open(my $fh, $filename)
4925 or die "Can't open $filename: $!";
4927 Use the three-argument form to open a file with arbitrary weird characters in it,
4929 open(my $fh, "<", $file)
4930 || die "Can't open $file: $!";
4932 otherwise it's necessary to protect any leading and trailing whitespace:
4934 $file =~ s#^(\s)#./$1#;
4935 open(my $fh, "< $file\0")
4936 || die "Can't open $file: $!";
4938 (this may not work on some bizarre filesystems). One should
4939 conscientiously choose between the I<magic> and I<three-argument> form
4940 of L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>:
4942 open(my $in, $ARGV[0]) || die "Can't open $ARGV[0]: $!";
4944 will allow the user to specify an argument of the form C<"rsh cat file |">,
4945 but will not work on a filename that happens to have a trailing space, while
4947 open(my $in, "<", $ARGV[0])
4948 || die "Can't open $ARGV[0]: $!";
4950 will have exactly the opposite restrictions. (However, some shells
4951 support the syntax C<< perl your_program.pl <( rsh cat file ) >>, which
4952 produces a filename that can be opened normally.)
4954 =item Invoking C-style C<open>
4956 If you want a "real" C L<open(2)>, then you should use the
4957 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE> function, which involves
4958 no such magic (but uses different filemodes than Perl
4959 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>, which corresponds to C L<fopen(3)>).
4960 This is another way to protect your filenames from interpretation. For
4964 sysopen(my $fh, $path, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_EXCL)
4965 or die "Can't open $path: $!";
4967 print $fh "stuff $$\n";
4969 print "File contains: ", readline($fh);
4971 See L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE> for some details about
4972 mixing reading and writing.
4974 =item Portability issues
4976 See L<perlport/open>.
4983 =item opendir DIRHANDLE,EXPR
4986 =for Pod::Functions open a directory
4988 Opens a directory named EXPR for processing by
4989 L<C<readdir>|/readdir DIRHANDLE>, L<C<telldir>|/telldir DIRHANDLE>,
4990 L<C<seekdir>|/seekdir DIRHANDLE,POS>,
4991 L<C<rewinddir>|/rewinddir DIRHANDLE>, and
4992 L<C<closedir>|/closedir DIRHANDLE>. Returns true if successful.
4993 DIRHANDLE may be an expression whose value can be used as an indirect
4994 dirhandle, usually the real dirhandle name. If DIRHANDLE is an undefined
4995 scalar variable (or array or hash element), the variable is assigned a
4996 reference to a new anonymous dirhandle; that is, it's autovivified.
4997 Dirhandles are the same objects as filehandles; an I/O object can only
4998 be open as one of these handle types at once.
5000 See the example at L<C<readdir>|/readdir DIRHANDLE>.
5007 =for Pod::Functions find a character's numeric representation
5009 Returns the numeric value of the first character of EXPR.
5010 If EXPR is an empty string, returns 0. If EXPR is omitted, uses
5011 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
5012 (Note I<character>, not byte.)
5014 For the reverse, see L<C<chr>|/chr NUMBER>.
5015 See L<perlunicode> for more about Unicode.
5020 =item our TYPE VARLIST
5022 =item our VARLIST : ATTRS
5024 =item our TYPE VARLIST : ATTRS
5026 =for Pod::Functions +5.6.0 declare and assign a package variable (lexical scoping)
5028 L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> makes a lexical alias to a package (i.e. global)
5029 variable of the same name in the current package for use within the
5030 current lexical scope.
5032 L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> has the same scoping rules as
5033 L<C<my>|/my VARLIST> or L<C<state>|/state VARLIST>, meaning that it is
5034 only valid within a lexical scope. Unlike L<C<my>|/my VARLIST> and
5035 L<C<state>|/state VARLIST>, which both declare new (lexical) variables,
5036 L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> only creates an alias to an existing variable: a
5037 package variable of the same name.
5039 This means that when C<use strict 'vars'> is in effect, L<C<our>|/our
5040 VARLIST> lets you use a package variable without qualifying it with the
5041 package name, but only within the lexical scope of the
5042 L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> declaration. This applies immediately--even
5043 within the same statement.
5051 our $foo; # alias to $Foo::foo
5052 print $foo; # prints 23
5055 print $Foo::foo; # prints 23
5057 print $foo; # ERROR: requires explicit package name
5059 This works even if the package variable has not been used before, as
5060 package variables spring into existence when first used.
5065 our $foo = 23; # just like $Foo::foo = 23
5067 print $Foo::foo; # prints 23
5069 Because the variable becomes legal immediately under C<use strict 'vars'>, so
5070 long as there is no variable with that name is already in scope, you can then
5071 reference the package variable again even within the same statement.
5076 my $foo = $foo; # error, undeclared $foo on right-hand side
5077 our $foo = $foo; # no errors
5079 If more than one variable is listed, the list must be placed
5084 An L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> declaration declares an alias for a package
5085 variable that will be visible
5086 across its entire lexical scope, even across package boundaries. The
5087 package in which the variable is entered is determined at the point
5088 of the declaration, not at the point of use. This means the following
5092 our $bar; # declares $Foo::bar for rest of lexical scope
5096 print $bar; # prints 20, as it refers to $Foo::bar
5098 Multiple L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> declarations with the same name in the
5100 scope are allowed if they are in different packages. If they happen
5101 to be in the same package, Perl will emit warnings if you have asked
5102 for them, just like multiple L<C<my>|/my VARLIST> declarations. Unlike
5103 a second L<C<my>|/my VARLIST> declaration, which will bind the name to a
5104 fresh variable, a second L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> declaration in the same
5105 package, in the same scope, is merely redundant.
5109 our $bar; # declares $Foo::bar for rest of lexical scope
5113 our $bar = 30; # declares $Bar::bar for rest of lexical scope
5114 print $bar; # prints 30
5116 our $bar; # emits warning but has no other effect
5117 print $bar; # still prints 30
5119 An L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> declaration may also have a list of attributes
5122 The exact semantics and interface of TYPE and ATTRS are still
5123 evolving. TYPE is currently bound to the use of the L<fields> pragma,
5124 and attributes are handled using the L<attributes> pragma, or, starting
5125 from Perl 5.8.0, also via the L<Attribute::Handlers> module. See
5126 L<perlsub/"Private Variables via my()"> for details.
5128 Note that with a parenthesised list, L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> can be used
5129 as a dummy placeholder, for example to skip assignment of initial
5132 our ( undef, $min, $hour ) = localtime;
5134 L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> differs from L<C<use vars>|vars>, which allows
5135 use of an unqualified name I<only> within the affected package, but
5138 =item pack TEMPLATE,LIST
5141 =for Pod::Functions convert a list into a binary representation
5143 Takes a LIST of values and converts it into a string using the rules
5144 given by the TEMPLATE. The resulting string is the concatenation of
5145 the converted values. Typically, each converted value looks
5146 like its machine-level representation. For example, on 32-bit machines
5147 an integer may be represented by a sequence of 4 bytes, which will in
5148 Perl be presented as a string that's 4 characters long.
5150 See L<perlpacktut> for an introduction to this function.
5152 The TEMPLATE is a sequence of characters that give the order and type
5153 of values, as follows:
5155 a A string with arbitrary binary data, will be null padded.
5156 A A text (ASCII) string, will be space padded.
5157 Z A null-terminated (ASCIZ) string, will be null padded.
5159 b A bit string (ascending bit order inside each byte,
5161 B A bit string (descending bit order inside each byte).
5162 h A hex string (low nybble first).
5163 H A hex string (high nybble first).
5165 c A signed char (8-bit) value.
5166 C An unsigned char (octet) value.
5167 W An unsigned char value (can be greater than 255).
5169 s A signed short (16-bit) value.
5170 S An unsigned short value.
5172 l A signed long (32-bit) value.
5173 L An unsigned long value.
5175 q A signed quad (64-bit) value.
5176 Q An unsigned quad value.
5177 (Quads are available only if your system supports 64-bit
5178 integer values _and_ if Perl has been compiled to support
5179 those. Raises an exception otherwise.)
5181 i A signed integer value.
5182 I An unsigned integer value.
5183 (This 'integer' is _at_least_ 32 bits wide. Its exact
5184 size depends on what a local C compiler calls 'int'.)
5186 n An unsigned short (16-bit) in "network" (big-endian) order.
5187 N An unsigned long (32-bit) in "network" (big-endian) order.
5188 v An unsigned short (16-bit) in "VAX" (little-endian) order.
5189 V An unsigned long (32-bit) in "VAX" (little-endian) order.
5191 j A Perl internal signed integer value (IV).
5192 J A Perl internal unsigned integer value (UV).
5194 f A single-precision float in native format.
5195 d A double-precision float in native format.
5197 F A Perl internal floating-point value (NV) in native format
5198 D A float of long-double precision in native format.
5199 (Long doubles are available only if your system supports
5200 long double values _and_ if Perl has been compiled to
5201 support those. Raises an exception otherwise.
5202 Note that there are different long double formats.)
5204 p A pointer to a null-terminated string.
5205 P A pointer to a structure (fixed-length string).
5207 u A uuencoded string.
5208 U A Unicode character number. Encodes to a character in char-
5209 acter mode and UTF-8 (or UTF-EBCDIC in EBCDIC platforms) in
5212 w A BER compressed integer (not an ASN.1 BER, see perlpacktut
5213 for details). Its bytes represent an unsigned integer in
5214 base 128, most significant digit first, with as few digits
5215 as possible. Bit eight (the high bit) is set on each byte
5218 x A null byte (a.k.a ASCII NUL, "\000", chr(0))
5220 @ Null-fill or truncate to absolute position, counted from the
5221 start of the innermost ()-group.
5222 . Null-fill or truncate to absolute position specified by
5224 ( Start of a ()-group.
5226 One or more modifiers below may optionally follow certain letters in the
5227 TEMPLATE (the second column lists letters for which the modifier is valid):
5229 ! sSlLiI Forces native (short, long, int) sizes instead
5230 of fixed (16-/32-bit) sizes.
5232 ! xX Make x and X act as alignment commands.
5234 ! nNvV Treat integers as signed instead of unsigned.
5236 ! @. Specify position as byte offset in the internal
5237 representation of the packed string. Efficient
5240 > sSiIlLqQ Force big-endian byte-order on the type.
5241 jJfFdDpP (The "big end" touches the construct.)
5243 < sSiIlLqQ Force little-endian byte-order on the type.
5244 jJfFdDpP (The "little end" touches the construct.)
5246 The C<< > >> and C<< < >> modifiers can also be used on C<()> groups
5247 to force a particular byte-order on all components in that group,
5248 including all its subgroups.
5252 Larry recalls that the hex and bit string formats (H, h, B, b) were added to
5253 pack for processing data from NASA's Magellan probe. Magellan was in an
5254 elliptical orbit, using the antenna for the radar mapping when close to
5255 Venus and for communicating data back to Earth for the rest of the orbit.
5256 There were two transmission units, but one of these failed, and then the
5257 other developed a fault whereby it would randomly flip the sense of all the
5258 bits. It was easy to automatically detect complete records with the correct
5259 sense, and complete records with all the bits flipped. However, this didn't
5260 recover the records where the sense flipped midway. A colleague of Larry's
5261 was able to pretty much eyeball where the records flipped, so they wrote an
5262 editor named kybble (a pun on the dog food Kibbles 'n Bits) to enable him to
5263 manually correct the records and recover the data. For this purpose pack
5264 gained the hex and bit string format specifiers.
5266 git shows that they were added to perl 3.0 in patch #44 (Jan 1991, commit
5267 27e2fb84680b9cc1), but the patch description makes no mention of their
5268 addition, let alone the story behind them.
5272 The following rules apply:
5278 Each letter may optionally be followed by a number indicating the repeat
5279 count. A numeric repeat count may optionally be enclosed in brackets, as
5280 in C<pack("C[80]", @arr)>. The repeat count gobbles that many values from
5281 the LIST when used with all format types other than C<a>, C<A>, C<Z>, C<b>,
5282 C<B>, C<h>, C<H>, C<@>, C<.>, C<x>, C<X>, and C<P>, where it means
5283 something else, described below. Supplying a C<*> for the repeat count
5284 instead of a number means to use however many items are left, except for:
5290 C<@>, C<x>, and C<X>, where it is equivalent to C<0>.
5294 <.>, where it means relative to the start of the string.
5298 C<u>, where it is equivalent to 1 (or 45, which here is equivalent).
5302 One can replace a numeric repeat count with a template letter enclosed in
5303 brackets to use the packed byte length of the bracketed template for the
5306 For example, the template C<x[L]> skips as many bytes as in a packed long,
5307 and the template C<"$t X[$t] $t"> unpacks twice whatever $t (when
5308 variable-expanded) unpacks. If the template in brackets contains alignment
5309 commands (such as C<x![d]>), its packed length is calculated as if the
5310 start of the template had the maximal possible alignment.
5312 When used with C<Z>, a C<*> as the repeat count is guaranteed to add a
5313 trailing null byte, so the resulting string is always one byte longer than
5314 the byte length of the item itself.
5316 When used with C<@>, the repeat count represents an offset from the start
5317 of the innermost C<()> group.
5319 When used with C<.>, the repeat count determines the starting position to
5320 calculate the value offset as follows:
5326 If the repeat count is C<0>, it's relative to the current position.
5330 If the repeat count is C<*>, the offset is relative to the start of the
5335 And if it's an integer I<n>, the offset is relative to the start of the
5336 I<n>th innermost C<( )> group, or to the start of the string if I<n> is
5337 bigger then the group level.
5341 The repeat count for C<u> is interpreted as the maximal number of bytes
5342 to encode per line of output, with 0, 1 and 2 replaced by 45. The repeat
5343 count should not be more than 65.
5347 The C<a>, C<A>, and C<Z> types gobble just one value, but pack it as a
5348 string of length count, padding with nulls or spaces as needed. When
5349 unpacking, C<A> strips trailing whitespace and nulls, C<Z> strips everything
5350 after the first null, and C<a> returns data with no stripping at all.
5352 If the value to pack is too long, the result is truncated. If it's too
5353 long and an explicit count is provided, C<Z> packs only C<$count-1> bytes,
5354 followed by a null byte. Thus C<Z> always packs a trailing null, except
5355 when the count is 0.
5359 Likewise, the C<b> and C<B> formats pack a string that's that many bits long.
5360 Each such format generates 1 bit of the result. These are typically followed
5361 by a repeat count like C<B8> or C<B64>.
5363 Each result bit is based on the least-significant bit of the corresponding
5364 input character, i.e., on C<ord($char)%2>. In particular, characters C<"0">
5365 and C<"1"> generate bits 0 and 1, as do characters C<"\000"> and C<"\001">.
5367 Starting from the beginning of the input string, each 8-tuple
5368 of characters is converted to 1 character of output. With format C<b>,
5369 the first character of the 8-tuple determines the least-significant bit of a
5370 character; with format C<B>, it determines the most-significant bit of
5373 If the length of the input string is not evenly divisible by 8, the
5374 remainder is packed as if the input string were padded by null characters
5375 at the end. Similarly during unpacking, "extra" bits are ignored.
5377 If the input string is longer than needed, remaining characters are ignored.
5379 A C<*> for the repeat count uses all characters of the input field.
5380 On unpacking, bits are converted to a string of C<0>s and C<1>s.
5384 The C<h> and C<H> formats pack a string that many nybbles (4-bit groups,
5385 representable as hexadecimal digits, C<"0".."9"> C<"a".."f">) long.
5387 For each such format, L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST> generates 4 bits of result.
5388 With non-alphabetical characters, the result is based on the 4 least-significant
5389 bits of the input character, i.e., on C<ord($char)%16>. In particular,
5390 characters C<"0"> and C<"1"> generate nybbles 0 and 1, as do bytes
5391 C<"\000"> and C<"\001">. For characters C<"a".."f"> and C<"A".."F">, the result
5392 is compatible with the usual hexadecimal digits, so that C<"a"> and
5393 C<"A"> both generate the nybble C<0xA==10>. Use only these specific hex
5394 characters with this format.
5396 Starting from the beginning of the template to
5397 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>, each pair
5398 of characters is converted to 1 character of output. With format C<h>, the
5399 first character of the pair determines the least-significant nybble of the
5400 output character; with format C<H>, it determines the most-significant
5403 If the length of the input string is not even, it behaves as if padded by
5404 a null character at the end. Similarly, "extra" nybbles are ignored during
5407 If the input string is longer than needed, extra characters are ignored.
5409 A C<*> for the repeat count uses all characters of the input field. For
5410 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>, nybbles are converted to a string of
5415 The C<p> format packs a pointer to a null-terminated string. You are
5416 responsible for ensuring that the string is not a temporary value, as that
5417 could potentially get deallocated before you got around to using the packed
5418 result. The C<P> format packs a pointer to a structure of the size indicated
5419 by the length. A null pointer is created if the corresponding value for
5420 C<p> or C<P> is L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>; similarly with
5421 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>, where a null pointer unpacks into
5422 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>.
5424 If your system has a strange pointer size--meaning a pointer is neither as
5425 big as an int nor as big as a long--it may not be possible to pack or
5426 unpack pointers in big- or little-endian byte order. Attempting to do
5427 so raises an exception.
5431 The C</> template character allows packing and unpacking of a sequence of
5432 items where the packed structure contains a packed item count followed by
5433 the packed items themselves. This is useful when the structure you're
5434 unpacking has encoded the sizes or repeat counts for some of its fields
5435 within the structure itself as separate fields.
5437 For L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>, you write
5438 I<length-item>C</>I<sequence-item>, and the
5439 I<length-item> describes how the length value is packed. Formats likely
5440 to be of most use are integer-packing ones like C<n> for Java strings,
5441 C<w> for ASN.1 or SNMP, and C<N> for Sun XDR.
5443 For L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>, I<sequence-item> may have a repeat
5444 count, in which case
5445 the minimum of that and the number of available items is used as the argument
5446 for I<length-item>. If it has no repeat count or uses a '*', the number
5447 of available items is used.
5449 For L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>, an internal stack of integer
5450 arguments unpacked so far is
5451 used. You write C</>I<sequence-item> and the repeat count is obtained by
5452 popping off the last element from the stack. The I<sequence-item> must not
5453 have a repeat count.
5455 If I<sequence-item> refers to a string type (C<"A">, C<"a">, or C<"Z">),
5456 the I<length-item> is the string length, not the number of strings. With
5457 an explicit repeat count for pack, the packed string is adjusted to that
5458 length. For example:
5460 This code: gives this result:
5462 unpack("W/a", "\004Gurusamy") ("Guru")
5463 unpack("a3/A A*", "007 Bond J ") (" Bond", "J")
5464 unpack("a3 x2 /A A*", "007: Bond, J.") ("Bond, J", ".")
5466 pack("n/a* w/a","hello,","world") "\000\006hello,\005world"
5467 pack("a/W2", ord("a") .. ord("z")) "2ab"
5469 The I<length-item> is not returned explicitly from
5470 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>.
5472 Supplying a count to the I<length-item> format letter is only useful with
5473 C<A>, C<a>, or C<Z>. Packing with a I<length-item> of C<a> or C<Z> may
5474 introduce C<"\000"> characters, which Perl does not regard as legal in
5479 The integer types C<s>, C<S>, C<l>, and C<L> may be
5480 followed by a C<!> modifier to specify native shorts or
5481 longs. As shown in the example above, a bare C<l> means
5482 exactly 32 bits, although the native C<long> as seen by the local C compiler
5483 may be larger. This is mainly an issue on 64-bit platforms. You can
5484 see whether using C<!> makes any difference this way:
5486 printf "format s is %d, s! is %d\n",
5487 length pack("s"), length pack("s!");
5489 printf "format l is %d, l! is %d\n",
5490 length pack("l"), length pack("l!");
5493 C<i!> and C<I!> are also allowed, but only for completeness' sake:
5494 they are identical to C<i> and C<I>.
5496 The actual sizes (in bytes) of native shorts, ints, longs, and long
5497 longs on the platform where Perl was built are also available from
5500 $ perl -V:{short,int,long{,long}}size
5506 or programmatically via the L<C<Config>|Config> module:
5509 print $Config{shortsize}, "\n";
5510 print $Config{intsize}, "\n";
5511 print $Config{longsize}, "\n";
5512 print $Config{longlongsize}, "\n";
5514 C<$Config{longlongsize}> is undefined on systems without
5519 The integer formats C<s>, C<S>, C<i>, C<I>, C<l>, C<L>, C<j>, and C<J> are
5520 inherently non-portable between processors and operating systems because
5521 they obey native byteorder and endianness. For example, a 4-byte integer
5522 0x12345678 (305419896 decimal) would be ordered natively (arranged in and
5523 handled by the CPU registers) into bytes as
5525 0x12 0x34 0x56 0x78 # big-endian
5526 0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12 # little-endian
5528 Basically, Intel and VAX CPUs are little-endian, while everybody else,
5529 including Motorola m68k/88k, PPC, Sparc, HP PA, Power, and Cray, are
5530 big-endian. Alpha and MIPS can be either: Digital/Compaq uses (well, used)
5531 them in little-endian mode, but SGI/Cray uses them in big-endian mode.
5533 The names I<big-endian> and I<little-endian> are comic references to the
5534 egg-eating habits of the little-endian Lilliputians and the big-endian
5535 Blefuscudians from the classic Jonathan Swift satire, I<Gulliver's Travels>.
5536 This entered computer lingo via the paper "On Holy Wars and a Plea for
5537 Peace" by Danny Cohen, USC/ISI IEN 137, April 1, 1980.
5539 Some systems may have even weirder byte orders such as
5544 These are called mid-endian, middle-endian, mixed-endian, or just weird.
5546 You can determine your system endianness with this incantation:
5548 printf("%#02x ", $_) for unpack("W*", pack L=>0x12345678);
5550 The byteorder on the platform where Perl was built is also available
5554 print "$Config{byteorder}\n";
5556 or from the command line:
5560 Byteorders C<"1234"> and C<"12345678"> are little-endian; C<"4321">
5561 and C<"87654321"> are big-endian. Systems with multiarchitecture binaries
5562 will have C<"ffff">, signifying that static information doesn't work,
5563 one must use runtime probing.
5565 For portably packed integers, either use the formats C<n>, C<N>, C<v>,
5566 and C<V> or else use the C<< > >> and C<< < >> modifiers described
5567 immediately below. See also L<perlport>.
5571 Also floating point numbers have endianness. Usually (but not always)
5572 this agrees with the integer endianness. Even though most platforms
5573 these days use the IEEE 754 binary format, there are differences,
5574 especially if the long doubles are involved. You can see the
5575 C<Config> variables C<doublekind> and C<longdblkind> (also C<doublesize>,
5576 C<longdblsize>): the "kind" values are enums, unlike C<byteorder>.
5578 Portability-wise the best option is probably to keep to the IEEE 754
5579 64-bit doubles, and of agreed-upon endianness. Another possibility
5580 is the C<"%a">) format of L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST>.
5584 Starting with Perl 5.10.0, integer and floating-point formats, along with
5585 the C<p> and C<P> formats and C<()> groups, may all be followed by the
5586 C<< > >> or C<< < >> endianness modifiers to respectively enforce big-
5587 or little-endian byte-order. These modifiers are especially useful
5588 given how C<n>, C<N>, C<v>, and C<V> don't cover signed integers,
5589 64-bit integers, or floating-point values.
5591 Here are some concerns to keep in mind when using an endianness modifier:
5597 Exchanging signed integers between different platforms works only
5598 when all platforms store them in the same format. Most platforms store
5599 signed integers in two's-complement notation, so usually this is not an issue.
5603 The C<< > >> or C<< < >> modifiers can only be used on floating-point
5604 formats on big- or little-endian machines. Otherwise, attempting to
5605 use them raises an exception.
5609 Forcing big- or little-endian byte-order on floating-point values for
5610 data exchange can work only if all platforms use the same
5611 binary representation such as IEEE floating-point. Even if all
5612 platforms are using IEEE, there may still be subtle differences. Being able
5613 to use C<< > >> or C<< < >> on floating-point values can be useful,
5614 but also dangerous if you don't know exactly what you're doing.
5615 It is not a general way to portably store floating-point values.
5619 When using C<< > >> or C<< < >> on a C<()> group, this affects
5620 all types inside the group that accept byte-order modifiers,
5621 including all subgroups. It is silently ignored for all other
5622 types. You are not allowed to override the byte-order within a group
5623 that already has a byte-order modifier suffix.
5629 Real numbers (floats and doubles) are in native machine format only.
5630 Due to the multiplicity of floating-point formats and the lack of a
5631 standard "network" representation for them, no facility for interchange has been
5632 made. This means that packed floating-point data written on one machine
5633 may not be readable on another, even if both use IEEE floating-point
5634 arithmetic (because the endianness of the memory representation is not part
5635 of the IEEE spec). See also L<perlport>.
5637 If you know I<exactly> what you're doing, you can use the C<< > >> or C<< < >>
5638 modifiers to force big- or little-endian byte-order on floating-point values.
5640 Because Perl uses doubles (or long doubles, if configured) internally for
5641 all numeric calculation, converting from double into float and thence
5642 to double again loses precision, so C<unpack("f", pack("f", $foo)>)
5643 will not in general equal $foo.
5647 Pack and unpack can operate in two modes: character mode (C<C0> mode) where
5648 the packed string is processed per character, and UTF-8 byte mode (C<U0> mode)
5649 where the packed string is processed in its UTF-8-encoded Unicode form on
5650 a byte-by-byte basis. Character mode is the default
5651 unless the format string starts with C<U>. You
5652 can always switch mode mid-format with an explicit
5653 C<C0> or C<U0> in the format. This mode remains in effect until the next
5654 mode change, or until the end of the C<()> group it (directly) applies to.
5656 Using C<C0> to get Unicode characters while using C<U0> to get I<non>-Unicode
5657 bytes is not necessarily obvious. Probably only the first of these
5660 $ perl -CS -E 'say "\x{3B1}\x{3C9}"' |
5661 perl -CS -ne 'printf "%v04X\n", $_ for unpack("C0A*", $_)'
5663 $ perl -CS -E 'say "\x{3B1}\x{3C9}"' |
5664 perl -CS -ne 'printf "%v02X\n", $_ for unpack("U0A*", $_)'
5666 $ perl -CS -E 'say "\x{3B1}\x{3C9}"' |
5667 perl -C0 -ne 'printf "%v02X\n", $_ for unpack("C0A*", $_)'
5669 $ perl -CS -E 'say "\x{3B1}\x{3C9}"' |
5670 perl -C0 -ne 'printf "%v02X\n", $_ for unpack("U0A*", $_)'
5671 C3.8E.C2.B1.C3.8F.C2.89
5673 Those examples also illustrate that you should not try to use
5674 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>/L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR> as a
5675 substitute for the L<Encode> module.
5679 You must yourself do any alignment or padding by inserting, for example,
5680 enough C<"x">es while packing. There is no way for
5681 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST> and L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>
5682 to know where characters are going to or coming from, so they
5683 handle their output and input as flat sequences of characters.
5687 A C<()> group is a sub-TEMPLATE enclosed in parentheses. A group may
5688 take a repeat count either as postfix, or for
5689 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>, also via the C</>
5690 template character. Within each repetition of a group, positioning with
5691 C<@> starts over at 0. Therefore, the result of
5693 pack("@1A((@2A)@3A)", qw[X Y Z])
5695 is the string C<"\0X\0\0YZ">.
5699 C<x> and C<X> accept the C<!> modifier to act as alignment commands: they
5700 jump forward or back to the closest position aligned at a multiple of C<count>
5701 characters. For example, to L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST> or
5702 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR> a C structure like
5705 char c; /* one signed, 8-bit character */
5710 one may need to use the template C<c x![d] d c[2]>. This assumes that
5711 doubles must be aligned to the size of double.
5713 For alignment commands, a C<count> of 0 is equivalent to a C<count> of 1;
5718 C<n>, C<N>, C<v> and C<V> accept the C<!> modifier to
5719 represent signed 16-/32-bit integers in big-/little-endian order.
5720 This is portable only when all platforms sharing packed data use the
5721 same binary representation for signed integers; for example, when all
5722 platforms use two's-complement representation.
5726 Comments can be embedded in a TEMPLATE using C<#> through the end of line.
5727 White space can separate pack codes from each other, but modifiers and
5728 repeat counts must follow immediately. Breaking complex templates into
5729 individual line-by-line components, suitably annotated, can do as much to
5730 improve legibility and maintainability of pack/unpack formats as C</x> can
5731 for complicated pattern matches.
5735 If TEMPLATE requires more arguments than L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>
5736 is given, L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>
5737 assumes additional C<""> arguments. If TEMPLATE requires fewer arguments
5738 than given, extra arguments are ignored.
5742 Attempting to pack the special floating point values C<Inf> and C<NaN>
5743 (infinity, also in negative, and not-a-number) into packed integer values
5744 (like C<"L">) is a fatal error. The reason for this is that there simply
5745 isn't any sensible mapping for these special values into integers.
5751 $foo = pack("WWWW",65,66,67,68);
5753 $foo = pack("W4",65,66,67,68);
5755 $foo = pack("W4",0x24b6,0x24b7,0x24b8,0x24b9);
5756 # same thing with Unicode circled letters.
5757 $foo = pack("U4",0x24b6,0x24b7,0x24b8,0x24b9);
5758 # same thing with Unicode circled letters. You don't get the
5759 # UTF-8 bytes because the U at the start of the format caused
5760 # a switch to U0-mode, so the UTF-8 bytes get joined into
5762 $foo = pack("C0U4",0x24b6,0x24b7,0x24b8,0x24b9);
5763 # foo eq "\xe2\x92\xb6\xe2\x92\xb7\xe2\x92\xb8\xe2\x92\xb9"
5764 # This is the UTF-8 encoding of the string in the
5767 $foo = pack("ccxxcc",65,66,67,68);
5770 # NOTE: The examples above featuring "W" and "c" are true
5771 # only on ASCII and ASCII-derived systems such as ISO Latin 1
5772 # and UTF-8. On EBCDIC systems, the first example would be
5773 # $foo = pack("WWWW",193,194,195,196);
5775 $foo = pack("s2",1,2);
5776 # "\001\000\002\000" on little-endian
5777 # "\000\001\000\002" on big-endian
5779 $foo = pack("a4","abcd","x","y","z");
5782 $foo = pack("aaaa","abcd","x","y","z");
5785 $foo = pack("a14","abcdefg");
5786 # "abcdefg\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"
5788 $foo = pack("i9pl", gmtime);
5789 # a real struct tm (on my system anyway)
5791 $utmp_template = "Z8 Z8 Z16 L";
5792 $utmp = pack($utmp_template, @utmp1);
5793 # a struct utmp (BSDish)
5795 @utmp2 = unpack($utmp_template, $utmp);
5796 # "@utmp1" eq "@utmp2"
5799 unpack("N", pack("B32", substr("0" x 32 . shift, -32)));
5802 $foo = pack('sx2l', 12, 34);
5803 # short 12, two zero bytes padding, long 34
5804 $bar = pack('s@4l', 12, 34);
5805 # short 12, zero fill to position 4, long 34
5807 $baz = pack('s.l', 12, 4, 34);
5808 # short 12, zero fill to position 4, long 34
5810 $foo = pack('nN', 42, 4711);
5811 # pack big-endian 16- and 32-bit unsigned integers
5812 $foo = pack('S>L>', 42, 4711);
5814 $foo = pack('s<l<', -42, 4711);
5815 # pack little-endian 16- and 32-bit signed integers
5816 $foo = pack('(sl)<', -42, 4711);
5819 The same template may generally also be used in
5820 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>.
5822 =item package NAMESPACE
5824 =item package NAMESPACE VERSION
5825 X<package> X<module> X<namespace> X<version>
5827 =item package NAMESPACE BLOCK
5829 =item package NAMESPACE VERSION BLOCK
5830 X<package> X<module> X<namespace> X<version>
5832 =for Pod::Functions declare a separate global namespace
5834 Declares the BLOCK or the rest of the compilation unit as being in the
5835 given namespace. The scope of the package declaration is either the
5836 supplied code BLOCK or, in the absence of a BLOCK, from the declaration
5837 itself through the end of current scope (the enclosing block, file, or
5838 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>). That is, the forms without a BLOCK are
5839 operative through the end of the current scope, just like the
5840 L<C<my>|/my VARLIST>, L<C<state>|/state VARLIST>, and
5841 L<C<our>|/our VARLIST> operators. All unqualified dynamic identifiers
5842 in this scope will be in the given namespace, except where overridden by
5843 another L<C<package>|/package NAMESPACE> declaration or
5844 when they're one of the special identifiers that qualify into C<main::>,
5845 like C<STDOUT>, C<ARGV>, C<ENV>, and the punctuation variables.
5847 A package statement affects dynamic variables only, including those
5848 you've used L<C<local>|/local EXPR> on, but I<not> lexically-scoped
5849 variables, which are created with L<C<my>|/my VARLIST>,
5850 L<C<state>|/state VARLIST>, or L<C<our>|/our VARLIST>. Typically it
5851 would be the first declaration in a file included by
5852 L<C<require>|/require VERSION> or L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>.
5853 You can switch into a
5854 package in more than one place, since this only determines which default
5855 symbol table the compiler uses for the rest of that block. You can refer to
5856 identifiers in other packages than the current one by prefixing the identifier
5857 with the package name and a double colon, as in C<$SomePack::var>
5858 or C<ThatPack::INPUT_HANDLE>. If package name is omitted, the C<main>
5859 package as assumed. That is, C<$::sail> is equivalent to
5860 C<$main::sail> (as well as to C<$main'sail>, still seen in ancient
5861 code, mostly from Perl 4).
5863 If VERSION is provided, L<C<package>|/package NAMESPACE> sets the
5864 C<$VERSION> variable in the given
5865 namespace to a L<version> object with the VERSION provided. VERSION must be a
5866 "strict" style version number as defined by the L<version> module: a positive
5867 decimal number (integer or decimal-fraction) without exponentiation or else a
5868 dotted-decimal v-string with a leading 'v' character and at least three
5869 components. You should set C<$VERSION> only once per package.
5871 See L<perlmod/"Packages"> for more information about packages, modules,
5872 and classes. See L<perlsub> for other scoping issues.
5877 =for Pod::Functions +5.004 the current package
5879 A special token that returns the name of the package in which it occurs.
5881 =item pipe READHANDLE,WRITEHANDLE
5884 =for Pod::Functions open a pair of connected filehandles
5886 Opens a pair of connected pipes like the corresponding system call.
5887 Note that if you set up a loop of piped processes, deadlock can occur
5888 unless you are very careful. In addition, note that Perl's pipes use
5889 IO buffering, so you may need to set L<C<$E<verbar>>|perlvar/$E<verbar>>
5890 to flush your WRITEHANDLE after each command, depending on the
5893 Returns true on success.
5895 See L<IPC::Open2>, L<IPC::Open3>, and
5896 L<perlipc/"Bidirectional Communication with Another Process">
5897 for examples of such things.
5899 On systems that support a close-on-exec flag on files, that flag is set
5900 on all newly opened file descriptors whose
5901 L<C<fileno>|/fileno FILEHANDLE>s are I<higher> than the current value of
5902 L<C<$^F>|perlvar/$^F> (by default 2 for C<STDERR>). See L<perlvar/$^F>.
5909 =for Pod::Functions remove the last element from an array and return it
5911 Pops and returns the last value of the array, shortening the array by
5914 Returns the undefined value if the array is empty, although this may
5915 also happen at other times. If ARRAY is omitted, pops the
5916 L<C<@ARGV>|perlvar/@ARGV> array in the main program, but the
5917 L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_> array in subroutines, just like
5918 L<C<shift>|/shift ARRAY>.
5920 Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed
5921 L<C<pop>|/pop ARRAY> to take a
5922 scalar expression. This experiment has been deemed unsuccessful, and was
5923 removed as of Perl 5.24.
5926 X<pos> X<match, position>
5930 =for Pod::Functions find or set the offset for the last/next m//g search
5932 Returns the offset of where the last C<m//g> search left off for the
5933 variable in question (L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> is used when the variable is not
5934 specified). This offset is in characters unless the
5935 (no-longer-recommended) L<C<use bytes>|bytes> pragma is in effect, in
5936 which case the offset is in bytes. Note that 0 is a valid match offset.
5937 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> indicates
5938 that the search position is reset (usually due to match failure, but
5939 can also be because no match has yet been run on the scalar).
5941 L<C<pos>|/pos SCALAR> directly accesses the location used by the regexp
5942 engine to store the offset, so assigning to L<C<pos>|/pos SCALAR> will
5943 change that offset, and so will also influence the C<\G> zero-width
5944 assertion in regular expressions. Both of these effects take place for
5945 the next match, so you can't affect the position with
5946 L<C<pos>|/pos SCALAR> during the current match, such as in
5947 C<(?{pos() = 5})> or C<s//pos() = 5/e>.
5949 Setting L<C<pos>|/pos SCALAR> also resets the I<matched with
5950 zero-length> flag, described
5951 under L<perlre/"Repeated Patterns Matching a Zero-length Substring">.
5953 Because a failed C<m//gc> match doesn't reset the offset, the return
5954 from L<C<pos>|/pos SCALAR> won't change either in this case. See
5955 L<perlre> and L<perlop>.
5957 =item print FILEHANDLE LIST
5960 =item print FILEHANDLE
5966 =for Pod::Functions output a list to a filehandle
5968 Prints a string or a list of strings. Returns true if successful.
5969 FILEHANDLE may be a scalar variable containing the name of or a reference
5970 to the filehandle, thus introducing one level of indirection. (NOTE: If
5971 FILEHANDLE is a variable and the next token is a term, it may be
5972 misinterpreted as an operator unless you interpose a C<+> or put
5973 parentheses around the arguments.) If FILEHANDLE is omitted, prints to the
5974 last selected (see L<C<select>|/select FILEHANDLE>) output handle. If
5975 LIST is omitted, prints L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> to the currently selected
5976 output handle. To use FILEHANDLE alone to print the content of
5977 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> to it, you must use a bareword filehandle like
5978 C<FH>, not an indirect one like C<$fh>. To set the default output handle
5979 to something other than STDOUT, use the select operation.
5981 The current value of L<C<$,>|perlvar/$,> (if any) is printed between
5982 each LIST item. The current value of L<C<$\>|perlvar/$\> (if any) is
5983 printed after the entire LIST has been printed. Because print takes a
5984 LIST, anything in the LIST is evaluated in list context, including any
5985 subroutines whose return lists you pass to
5986 L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST>. Be careful not to follow the print
5988 parenthesis unless you want the corresponding right parenthesis to
5989 terminate the arguments to the print; put parentheses around all arguments
5990 (or interpose a C<+>, but that doesn't look as good).
5992 If you're storing handles in an array or hash, or in general whenever
5993 you're using any expression more complex than a bareword handle or a plain,
5994 unsubscripted scalar variable to retrieve it, you will have to use a block
5995 returning the filehandle value instead, in which case the LIST may not be
5998 print { $files[$i] } "stuff\n";
5999 print { $OK ? *STDOUT : *STDERR } "stuff\n";
6001 Printing to a closed pipe or socket will generate a SIGPIPE signal. See
6002 L<perlipc> for more on signal handling.
6004 =item printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST
6007 =item printf FILEHANDLE
6009 =item printf FORMAT, LIST
6013 =for Pod::Functions output a formatted list to a filehandle
6015 Equivalent to C<print FILEHANDLE sprintf(FORMAT, LIST)>, except that
6016 L<C<$\>|perlvar/$\> (the output record separator) is not appended. The
6017 FORMAT and the LIST are actually parsed as a single list. The first
6018 argument of the list will be interpreted as the
6019 L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST> format. This means that
6020 C<printf(@_)> will use C<$_[0]> as the format. See
6021 L<sprintf|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST> for an explanation of the format
6022 argument. If C<use locale> (including C<use locale ':not_characters'>)
6023 is in effect and L<C<POSIX::setlocale>|POSIX/C<setlocale>> has been
6024 called, the character used for the decimal separator in formatted
6025 floating-point numbers is affected by the C<LC_NUMERIC> locale setting.
6026 See L<perllocale> and L<POSIX>.
6028 For historical reasons, if you omit the list, L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> is
6030 to use FILEHANDLE without a list, you must use a bareword filehandle like
6031 C<FH>, not an indirect one like C<$fh>. However, this will rarely do what
6032 you want; if L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> contains formatting codes, they will be
6033 replaced with the empty string and a warning will be emitted if
6034 L<warnings> are enabled. Just use L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST> if
6035 you want to print the contents of L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
6037 Don't fall into the trap of using a
6038 L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST> when a simple
6039 L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST> would do. The
6040 L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST> is more efficient and less error
6043 =item prototype FUNCTION
6048 =for Pod::Functions +5.002 get the prototype (if any) of a subroutine
6050 Returns the prototype of a function as a string (or
6051 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> if the
6052 function has no prototype). FUNCTION is a reference to, or the name of,
6053 the function whose prototype you want to retrieve. If FUNCTION is omitted,
6054 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> is used.
6056 If FUNCTION is a string starting with C<CORE::>, the rest is taken as a
6057 name for a Perl builtin. If the builtin's arguments
6058 cannot be adequately expressed by a prototype
6059 (such as L<C<system>|/system LIST>), L<C<prototype>|/prototype FUNCTION>
6060 returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>, because the builtin
6061 does not really behave like a Perl function. Otherwise, the string
6062 describing the equivalent prototype is returned.
6064 =item push ARRAY,LIST
6067 =for Pod::Functions append one or more elements to an array
6069 Treats ARRAY as a stack by appending the values of LIST to the end of
6070 ARRAY. The length of ARRAY increases by the length of LIST. Has the same
6073 for my $value (LIST) {
6074 $ARRAY[++$#ARRAY] = $value;
6077 but is more efficient. Returns the number of elements in the array following
6078 the completed L<C<push>|/push ARRAY,LIST>.
6080 Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed
6081 L<C<push>|/push ARRAY,LIST> to take a
6082 scalar expression. This experiment has been deemed unsuccessful, and was
6083 removed as of Perl 5.24.
6087 =for Pod::Functions singly quote a string
6091 =for Pod::Functions doubly quote a string
6095 =for Pod::Functions quote a list of words
6099 =for Pod::Functions backquote quote a string
6101 Generalized quotes. See L<perlop/"Quote-Like Operators">.
6105 =for Pod::Functions +5.005 compile pattern
6107 Regexp-like quote. See L<perlop/"Regexp Quote-Like Operators">.
6109 =item quotemeta EXPR
6110 X<quotemeta> X<metacharacter>
6114 =for Pod::Functions quote regular expression magic characters
6116 Returns the value of EXPR with all the ASCII non-"word"
6117 characters backslashed. (That is, all ASCII characters not matching
6118 C</[A-Za-z_0-9]/> will be preceded by a backslash in the
6119 returned string, regardless of any locale settings.)
6120 This is the internal function implementing
6121 the C<\Q> escape in double-quoted strings.
6122 (See below for the behavior on non-ASCII code points.)
6124 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
6126 quotemeta (and C<\Q> ... C<\E>) are useful when interpolating strings into
6127 regular expressions, because by default an interpolated variable will be
6128 considered a mini-regular expression. For example:
6130 my $sentence = 'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog';
6131 my $substring = 'quick.*?fox';
6132 $sentence =~ s{$substring}{big bad wolf};
6134 Will cause C<$sentence> to become C<'The big bad wolf jumped over...'>.
6138 my $sentence = 'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog';
6139 my $substring = 'quick.*?fox';
6140 $sentence =~ s{\Q$substring\E}{big bad wolf};
6144 my $sentence = 'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog';
6145 my $substring = 'quick.*?fox';
6146 my $quoted_substring = quotemeta($substring);
6147 $sentence =~ s{$quoted_substring}{big bad wolf};
6149 Will both leave the sentence as is.
6150 Normally, when accepting literal string input from the user,
6151 L<C<quotemeta>|/quotemeta EXPR> or C<\Q> must be used.
6153 In Perl v5.14, all non-ASCII characters are quoted in non-UTF-8-encoded
6154 strings, but not quoted in UTF-8 strings.
6156 Starting in Perl v5.16, Perl adopted a Unicode-defined strategy for
6157 quoting non-ASCII characters; the quoting of ASCII characters is
6160 Also unchanged is the quoting of non-UTF-8 strings when outside the
6162 L<C<use feature 'unicode_strings'>|feature/The 'unicode_strings' feature>,
6163 which is to quote all
6164 characters in the upper Latin1 range. This provides complete backwards
6165 compatibility for old programs which do not use Unicode. (Note that
6166 C<unicode_strings> is automatically enabled within the scope of a
6167 S<C<use v5.12>> or greater.)
6169 Within the scope of L<C<use locale>|locale>, all non-ASCII Latin1 code
6171 are quoted whether the string is encoded as UTF-8 or not. As mentioned
6172 above, locale does not affect the quoting of ASCII-range characters.
6173 This protects against those locales where characters such as C<"|"> are
6174 considered to be word characters.
6176 Otherwise, Perl quotes non-ASCII characters using an adaptation from
6177 Unicode (see L<https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr31/>).
6178 The only code points that are quoted are those that have any of the
6179 Unicode properties: Pattern_Syntax, Pattern_White_Space, White_Space,
6180 Default_Ignorable_Code_Point, or General_Category=Control.
6182 Of these properties, the two important ones are Pattern_Syntax and
6183 Pattern_White_Space. They have been set up by Unicode for exactly this
6184 purpose of deciding which characters in a regular expression pattern
6185 should be quoted. No character that can be in an identifier has these
6188 Perl promises, that if we ever add regular expression pattern
6189 metacharacters to the dozen already defined
6190 (C<\ E<verbar> ( ) [ { ^ $ * + ? .>), that we will only use ones that have the
6191 Pattern_Syntax property. Perl also promises, that if we ever add
6192 characters that are considered to be white space in regular expressions
6193 (currently mostly affected by C</x>), they will all have the
6194 Pattern_White_Space property.
6196 Unicode promises that the set of code points that have these two
6197 properties will never change, so something that is not quoted in v5.16
6198 will never need to be quoted in any future Perl release. (Not all the
6199 code points that match Pattern_Syntax have actually had characters
6200 assigned to them; so there is room to grow, but they are quoted
6201 whether assigned or not. Perl, of course, would never use an
6202 unassigned code point as an actual metacharacter.)
6204 Quoting characters that have the other 3 properties is done to enhance
6205 the readability of the regular expression and not because they actually
6206 need to be quoted for regular expression purposes (characters with the
6207 White_Space property are likely to be indistinguishable on the page or
6208 screen from those with the Pattern_White_Space property; and the other
6209 two properties contain non-printing characters).
6216 =for Pod::Functions retrieve the next pseudorandom number
6218 Returns a random fractional number greater than or equal to C<0> and less
6219 than the value of EXPR. (EXPR should be positive.) If EXPR is
6220 omitted, the value C<1> is used. Currently EXPR with the value C<0> is
6221 also special-cased as C<1> (this was undocumented before Perl 5.8.0
6222 and is subject to change in future versions of Perl). Automatically calls
6223 L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR> unless L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR> has already been
6224 called. See also L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR>.
6226 Apply L<C<int>|/int EXPR> to the value returned by L<C<rand>|/rand EXPR>
6227 if you want random integers instead of random fractional numbers. For
6232 returns a random integer between C<0> and C<9>, inclusive.
6234 (Note: If your rand function consistently returns numbers that are too
6235 large or too small, then your version of Perl was probably compiled
6236 with the wrong number of RANDBITS.)
6238 B<L<C<rand>|/rand EXPR> is not cryptographically secure. You should not rely
6239 on it in security-sensitive situations.> As of this writing, a
6240 number of third-party CPAN modules offer random number generators
6241 intended by their authors to be cryptographically secure,
6242 including: L<Data::Entropy>, L<Crypt::Random>, L<Math::Random::Secure>,
6243 and L<Math::TrulyRandom>.
6245 =item read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET
6246 X<read> X<file, read>
6248 =item read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH
6250 =for Pod::Functions fixed-length buffered input from a filehandle
6252 Attempts to read LENGTH I<characters> of data into variable SCALAR
6253 from the specified FILEHANDLE. Returns the number of characters
6254 actually read, C<0> at end of file, or undef if there was an error (in
6255 the latter case L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> is also set). SCALAR will be grown
6257 so that the last character actually read is the last character of the
6258 scalar after the read.
6260 An OFFSET may be specified to place the read data at some place in the
6261 string other than the beginning. A negative OFFSET specifies
6262 placement at that many characters counting backwards from the end of
6263 the string. A positive OFFSET greater than the length of SCALAR
6264 results in the string being padded to the required size with C<"\0">
6265 bytes before the result of the read is appended.
6267 The call is implemented in terms of either Perl's or your system's native
6268 L<fread(3)> library function, via the L<PerlIO> layers applied to the
6269 handle. To get a true L<read(2)> system call, see
6270 L<sysread|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>.
6272 Note the I<characters>: depending on the status of the filehandle,
6273 either (8-bit) bytes or characters are read. By default, all
6274 filehandles operate on bytes, but for example if the filehandle has
6275 been opened with the C<:utf8> I/O layer (see
6276 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>, and the L<open>
6277 pragma), the I/O will operate on UTF8-encoded Unicode
6278 characters, not bytes. Similarly for the C<:encoding> layer:
6279 in that case pretty much any characters can be read.
6281 =item readdir DIRHANDLE
6284 =for Pod::Functions get a directory from a directory handle
6286 Returns the next directory entry for a directory opened by
6287 L<C<opendir>|/opendir DIRHANDLE,EXPR>.
6288 If used in list context, returns all the rest of the entries in the
6289 directory. If there are no more entries, returns the undefined value in
6290 scalar context and the empty list in list context.
6292 If you're planning to filetest the return values out of a
6293 L<C<readdir>|/readdir DIRHANDLE>, you'd better prepend the directory in
6294 question. Otherwise, because we didn't L<C<chdir>|/chdir EXPR> there,
6295 it would have been testing the wrong file.
6297 opendir(my $dh, $some_dir) || die "Can't opendir $some_dir: $!";
6298 my @dots = grep { /^\./ && -f "$some_dir/$_" } readdir($dh);
6301 As of Perl 5.12 you can use a bare L<C<readdir>|/readdir DIRHANDLE> in a
6302 C<while> loop, which will set L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> on every iteration.
6303 If either a C<readdir> expression or an explicit assignment of a
6304 C<readdir> expression to a scalar is used as a C<while>/C<for> condition,
6305 then the condition actually tests for definedness of the expression's
6306 value, not for its regular truth value.
6308 opendir(my $dh, $some_dir) || die "Can't open $some_dir: $!";
6309 while (readdir $dh) {
6310 print "$some_dir/$_\n";
6314 To avoid confusing would-be users of your code who are running earlier
6315 versions of Perl with mysterious failures, put this sort of thing at the
6316 top of your file to signal that your code will work I<only> on Perls of a
6319 use 5.012; # so readdir assigns to $_ in a lone while test
6324 X<readline> X<gets> X<fgets>
6326 =for Pod::Functions fetch a record from a file
6328 Reads from the filehandle whose typeglob is contained in EXPR (or from
6329 C<*ARGV> if EXPR is not provided). In scalar context, each call reads and
6330 returns the next line until end-of-file is reached, whereupon the
6331 subsequent call returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>. In list context, reads
6332 until end-of-file is reached and returns a list of lines. Note that the
6333 notion of "line" used here is whatever you may have defined with
6334 L<C<$E<sol>>|perlvar/$E<sol>> (or C<$INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR> in
6335 L<English>). See L<perlvar/"$/">.
6337 When L<C<$E<sol>>|perlvar/$E<sol>> is set to L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>,
6338 when L<C<readline>|/readline EXPR> is in scalar context (i.e., file
6339 slurp mode), and when an empty file is read, it returns C<''> the first
6340 time, followed by L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> subsequently.
6342 This is the internal function implementing the C<< <EXPR> >>
6343 operator, but you can use it directly. The C<< <EXPR> >>
6344 operator is discussed in more detail in L<perlop/"I/O Operators">.
6347 my $line = readline(STDIN); # same thing
6349 If L<C<readline>|/readline EXPR> encounters an operating system error,
6350 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> will be set with the corresponding error message.
6351 It can be helpful to check L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> when you are reading from
6352 filehandles you don't trust, such as a tty or a socket. The following
6353 example uses the operator form of L<C<readline>|/readline EXPR> and dies
6354 if the result is not defined.
6356 while ( ! eof($fh) ) {
6357 defined( $_ = readline $fh ) or die "readline failed: $!";
6361 Note that you have can't handle L<C<readline>|/readline EXPR> errors
6362 that way with the C<ARGV> filehandle. In that case, you have to open
6363 each element of L<C<@ARGV>|perlvar/@ARGV> yourself since
6364 L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE> handles C<ARGV> differently.
6366 foreach my $arg (@ARGV) {
6367 open(my $fh, $arg) or warn "Can't open $arg: $!";
6369 while ( ! eof($fh) ) {
6370 defined( $_ = readline $fh )
6371 or die "readline failed for $arg: $!";
6376 Like the C<< <EXPR> >> operator, if a C<readline> expression is
6377 used as the condition of a C<while> or C<for> loop, then it will be
6378 implicitly assigned to C<$_>. If either a C<readline> expression or
6379 an explicit assignment of a C<readline> expression to a scalar is used
6380 as a C<while>/C<for> condition, then the condition actually tests for
6381 definedness of the expression's value, not for its regular truth value.
6388 =for Pod::Functions determine where a symbolic link is pointing
6390 Returns the value of a symbolic link, if symbolic links are
6391 implemented. If not, raises an exception. If there is a system
6392 error, returns the undefined value and sets L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> (errno).
6393 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
6395 Portability issues: L<perlport/readlink>.
6402 =for Pod::Functions execute a system command and collect standard output
6404 EXPR is executed as a system command.
6405 The collected standard output of the command is returned.
6406 In scalar context, it comes back as a single (potentially
6407 multi-line) string. In list context, returns a list of lines
6408 (however you've defined lines with L<C<$E<sol>>|perlvar/$E<sol>> (or
6409 C<$INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR> in L<English>)).
6410 This is the internal function implementing the C<qx/EXPR/>
6411 operator, but you can use it directly. The C<qx/EXPR/>
6412 operator is discussed in more detail in L<perlop/"C<qx/I<STRING>/>">.
6413 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
6415 =item recv SOCKET,SCALAR,LENGTH,FLAGS
6418 =for Pod::Functions receive a message over a Socket
6420 Receives a message on a socket. Attempts to receive LENGTH characters
6421 of data into variable SCALAR from the specified SOCKET filehandle.
6422 SCALAR will be grown or shrunk to the length actually read. Takes the
6423 same flags as the system call of the same name. Returns the address
6424 of the sender if SOCKET's protocol supports this; returns an empty
6425 string otherwise. If there's an error, returns the undefined value.
6426 This call is actually implemented in terms of the L<recvfrom(2)> system call.
6427 See L<perlipc/"UDP: Message Passing"> for examples.
6429 Note that if the socket has been marked as C<:utf8>, C<recv> will
6430 throw an exception. The C<:encoding(...)> layer implicitly introduces
6431 the C<:utf8> layer. See L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>.
6440 =for Pod::Functions start this loop iteration over again
6442 The L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> command restarts the loop block without
6443 evaluating the conditional again. The L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK>
6444 block, if any, is not executed. If
6445 the LABEL is omitted, the command refers to the innermost enclosing
6446 loop. The C<redo EXPR> form, available starting in Perl 5.18.0, allows a
6447 label name to be computed at run time, and is otherwise identical to C<redo
6448 LABEL>. Programs that want to lie to themselves about what was just input
6449 normally use this command:
6451 # a simpleminded Pascal comment stripper
6452 # (warning: assumes no { or } in strings)
6453 LINE: while (<STDIN>) {
6454 while (s|({.*}.*){.*}|$1 |) {}
6459 if (/}/) { # end of comment?
6468 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> cannot return a value from a block that typically
6469 returns a value, such as C<eval {}>, C<sub {}>, or C<do {}>. It will perform
6470 its flow control behavior, which precludes any return value. It should not be
6471 used to exit a L<C<grep>|/grep BLOCK LIST> or L<C<map>|/map BLOCK LIST>
6474 Note that a block by itself is semantically identical to a loop
6475 that executes once. Thus L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> inside such a block
6476 will effectively turn it into a looping construct.
6478 See also L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> for an illustration of how
6479 L<C<last>|/last LABEL>, L<C<next>|/next LABEL>, and
6480 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL> work.
6482 Unlike most named operators, this has the same precedence as assignment.
6483 It is also exempt from the looks-like-a-function rule, so
6484 C<redo ("foo")."bar"> will cause "bar" to be part of the argument to
6485 L<C<redo>|/redo LABEL>.
6492 =for Pod::Functions find out the type of thing being referenced
6494 Examines the value of EXPR, expecting it to be a reference, and returns
6495 a string giving information about the reference and the type of referent.
6496 If EXPR is not specified, L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> will be used.
6498 If the operand is not a reference, then the empty string will be returned.
6499 An empty string will only be returned in this situation. C<ref> is often
6500 useful to just test whether a value is a reference, which can be done
6501 by comparing the result to the empty string. It is a common mistake
6502 to use the result of C<ref> directly as a truth value: this goes wrong
6503 because C<0> (which is false) can be returned for a reference.
6505 If the operand is a reference to a blessed object, then the name of
6506 the class into which the referent is blessed will be returned. C<ref>
6507 doesn't care what the physical type of the referent is; blessing takes
6508 precedence over such concerns. Beware that exact comparison of C<ref>
6509 results against a class name doesn't perform a class membership test:
6510 a class's members also include objects blessed into subclasses, for
6511 which C<ref> will return the name of the subclass. Also beware that
6512 class names can clash with the built-in type names (described below).
6514 If the operand is a reference to an unblessed object, then the return
6515 value indicates the type of object. If the unblessed referent is not
6516 a scalar, then the return value will be one of the strings C<ARRAY>,
6517 C<HASH>, C<CODE>, C<FORMAT>, or C<IO>, indicating only which kind of
6518 object it is. If the unblessed referent is a scalar, then the return
6519 value will be one of the strings C<SCALAR>, C<VSTRING>, C<REF>, C<GLOB>,
6520 C<LVALUE>, or C<REGEXP>, depending on the kind of value the scalar
6521 currently has. But note that C<qr//> scalars are created already
6522 blessed, so C<ref qr/.../> will likely return C<Regexp>. Beware that
6523 these built-in type names can also be used as
6524 class names, so C<ref> returning one of these names doesn't unambiguously
6525 indicate that the referent is of the kind to which the name refers.
6527 The ambiguity between built-in type names and class names significantly
6528 limits the utility of C<ref>. For unambiguous information, use
6529 L<C<Scalar::Util::blessed()>|Scalar::Util/blessed> for information about
6530 blessing, and L<C<Scalar::Util::reftype()>|Scalar::Util/reftype> for
6531 information about physical types. Use L<the C<isa> method|UNIVERSAL/C<<
6532 $obj->isa( TYPE ) >>> for class membership tests, though one must be
6533 sure of blessedness before attempting a method call.
6535 See also L<perlref> and L<perlobj>.
6537 =item rename OLDNAME,NEWNAME
6538 X<rename> X<move> X<mv> X<ren>
6540 =for Pod::Functions change a filename
6542 Changes the name of a file; an existing file NEWNAME will be
6543 clobbered. Returns true for success, false otherwise.
6545 Behavior of this function varies wildly depending on your system
6546 implementation. For example, it will usually not work across file system
6547 boundaries, even though the system I<mv> command sometimes compensates
6548 for this. Other restrictions include whether it works on directories,
6549 open files, or pre-existing files. Check L<perlport> and either the
6550 L<rename(2)> manpage or equivalent system documentation for details.
6552 For a platform independent L<C<move>|File::Copy/move> function look at
6553 the L<File::Copy> module.
6555 Portability issues: L<perlport/rename>.
6557 =item require VERSION
6564 =for Pod::Functions load in external functions from a library at runtime
6566 Demands a version of Perl specified by VERSION, or demands some semantics
6567 specified by EXPR or by L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> if EXPR is not supplied.
6569 VERSION may be either a literal such as v5.24.1, which will be
6570 compared to L<C<$^V>|perlvar/$^V> (or C<$PERL_VERSION> in L<English>),
6571 or a numeric argument of the form 5.024001, which will be compared to
6572 L<C<$]>|perlvar/$]>. An exception is raised if VERSION is greater than
6573 the version of the current Perl interpreter. Compare with
6574 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>, which can do a similar check at
6577 Specifying VERSION as a numeric argument of the form 5.024001 should
6578 generally be avoided as older less readable syntax compared to
6579 v5.24.1. Before perl 5.8.0 (released in 2002), the more verbose numeric
6580 form was the only supported syntax, which is why you might see it in
6583 require v5.24.1; # run time version check
6584 require 5.24.1; # ditto
6585 require 5.024_001; # ditto; older syntax compatible
6588 Otherwise, L<C<require>|/require VERSION> demands that a library file be
6589 included if it hasn't already been included. The file is included via
6590 the do-FILE mechanism, which is essentially just a variety of
6591 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR> with the
6592 caveat that lexical variables in the invoking script will be invisible
6593 to the included code. If it were implemented in pure Perl, it
6594 would have semantics similar to the following:
6600 my ($filename) = @_;
6601 if ( my $version = eval { version->parse($filename) } ) {
6602 if ( $version > $^V ) {
6603 my $vn = $version->normal;
6604 croak "Perl $vn required--this is only $^V, stopped";
6609 if (exists $INC{$filename}) {
6610 return 1 if $INC{$filename};
6611 croak "Compilation failed in require";
6614 foreach $prefix (@INC) {
6616 #... do other stuff - see text below ....
6618 # (see text below about possible appending of .pmc
6619 # suffix to $filename)
6620 my $realfilename = "$prefix/$filename";
6621 next if ! -e $realfilename || -d _ || -b _;
6622 $INC{$filename} = $realfilename;
6623 my $result = do($realfilename);
6624 # but run in caller's namespace
6626 if (!defined $result) {
6627 $INC{$filename} = undef;
6628 croak $@ ? "$@Compilation failed in require"
6629 : "Can't locate $filename: $!\n";
6632 delete $INC{$filename};
6633 croak "$filename did not return true value";
6638 croak "Can't locate $filename in \@INC ...";
6641 Note that the file will not be included twice under the same specified
6644 The file must return true as the last statement to indicate
6645 successful execution of any initialization code, so it's customary to
6646 end such a file with C<1;> unless you're sure it'll return true
6647 otherwise. But it's better just to put the C<1;>, in case you add more
6650 If EXPR is a bareword, L<C<require>|/require VERSION> assumes a F<.pm>
6651 extension and replaces C<::> with C</> in the filename for you,
6652 to make it easy to load standard modules. This form of loading of
6653 modules does not risk altering your namespace, however it will autovivify
6654 the stash for the required module.
6656 In other words, if you try this:
6658 require Foo::Bar; # a splendid bareword
6660 The require function will actually look for the F<Foo/Bar.pm> file in the
6661 directories specified in the L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC> array, and it will
6662 autovivify the C<Foo::Bar::> stash at compile time.
6664 But if you try this:
6666 my $class = 'Foo::Bar';
6667 require $class; # $class is not a bareword
6669 require "Foo::Bar"; # not a bareword because of the ""
6671 The require function will look for the F<Foo::Bar> file in the
6672 L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC> array and
6673 will complain about not finding F<Foo::Bar> there. In this case you can do:
6675 eval "require $class";
6679 require "Foo/Bar.pm";
6681 Neither of these forms will autovivify any stashes at compile time and
6682 only have run time effects.
6684 Now that you understand how L<C<require>|/require VERSION> looks for
6685 files with a bareword argument, there is a little extra functionality
6686 going on behind the scenes. Before L<C<require>|/require VERSION> looks
6687 for a F<.pm> extension, it will first look for a similar filename with a
6688 F<.pmc> extension. If this file is found, it will be loaded in place of
6689 any file ending in a F<.pm> extension. This applies to both the explicit
6690 C<require "Foo/Bar.pm";> form and the C<require Foo::Bar;> form.
6692 You can also insert hooks into the import facility by putting Perl code
6693 directly into the L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC> array. There are three forms
6694 of hooks: subroutine references, array references, and blessed objects.
6696 Subroutine references are the simplest case. When the inclusion system
6697 walks through L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC> and encounters a subroutine, this
6698 subroutine gets called with two parameters, the first a reference to
6699 itself, and the second the name of the file to be included (e.g.,
6700 F<Foo/Bar.pm>). The subroutine should return either nothing or else a
6701 list of up to four values in the following order:
6707 A reference to a scalar, containing any initial source code to prepend to
6708 the file or generator output.
6712 A filehandle, from which the file will be read.
6716 A reference to a subroutine. If there is no filehandle (previous item),
6717 then this subroutine is expected to generate one line of source code per
6718 call, writing the line into L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> and returning 1, then
6719 finally at end of file returning 0. If there is a filehandle, then the
6720 subroutine will be called to act as a simple source filter, with the
6721 line as read in L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
6722 Again, return 1 for each valid line, and 0 after all lines have been
6724 For historical reasons the subroutine will receive a meaningless argument
6725 (in fact always the numeric value zero) as C<$_[0]>.
6729 Optional state for the subroutine. The state is passed in as C<$_[1]>.
6733 If an empty list, L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>, or nothing that matches the
6734 first 3 values above is returned, then L<C<require>|/require VERSION>
6735 looks at the remaining elements of L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC>.
6736 Note that this filehandle must be a real filehandle (strictly a typeglob
6737 or reference to a typeglob, whether blessed or unblessed); tied filehandles
6738 will be ignored and processing will stop there.
6740 If the hook is an array reference, its first element must be a subroutine
6741 reference. This subroutine is called as above, but the first parameter is
6742 the array reference. This lets you indirectly pass arguments to
6745 In other words, you can write:
6747 push @INC, \&my_sub;
6749 my ($coderef, $filename) = @_; # $coderef is \&my_sub
6755 push @INC, [ \&my_sub, $x, $y, ... ];
6757 my ($arrayref, $filename) = @_;
6758 # Retrieve $x, $y, ...
6759 my (undef, @parameters) = @$arrayref;
6763 If the hook is an object, it must provide an C<INC> method that will be
6764 called as above, the first parameter being the object itself. (Note that
6765 you must fully qualify the sub's name, as unqualified C<INC> is always forced
6766 into package C<main>.) Here is a typical code layout:
6772 my ($self, $filename) = @_;
6776 # In the main program
6777 push @INC, Foo->new(...);
6779 These hooks are also permitted to set the L<C<%INC>|perlvar/%INC> entry
6780 corresponding to the files they have loaded. See L<perlvar/%INC>.
6782 For a yet-more-powerful import facility, see
6783 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> and L<perlmod>.
6790 =for Pod::Functions clear all variables of a given name
6792 Generally used in a L<C<continue>|/continue BLOCK> block at the end of a
6793 loop to clear variables and reset C<m?pattern?> searches so that they
6795 expression is interpreted as a list of single characters (hyphens
6796 allowed for ranges). All variables (scalars, arrays, and hashes)
6797 in the current package beginning with one of
6798 those letters are reset to their pristine state. If the expression is
6799 omitted, one-match searches (C<m?pattern?>) are reset to match again.
6800 Only resets variables or searches in the current package. Always returns
6803 reset 'X'; # reset all X variables
6804 reset 'a-z'; # reset lower case variables
6805 reset; # just reset m?one-time? searches
6807 Resetting C<"A-Z"> is not recommended because you'll wipe out your
6808 L<C<@ARGV>|perlvar/@ARGV> and L<C<@INC>|perlvar/@INC> arrays and your
6809 L<C<%ENV>|perlvar/%ENV> hash.
6811 Resets only package variables; lexical variables are unaffected, but
6812 they clean themselves up on scope exit anyway, so you'll probably want
6813 to use them instead. See L<C<my>|/my VARLIST>.
6820 =for Pod::Functions get out of a function early
6822 Returns from a subroutine, L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>,
6823 L<C<do FILE>|/do EXPR>, L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST> block or regex
6824 eval block (but not a L<C<grep>|/grep BLOCK LIST>,
6825 L<C<map>|/map BLOCK LIST>, or L<C<do BLOCK>|/do BLOCK> block) with the value
6826 given in EXPR. Evaluation of EXPR may be in list, scalar, or void
6827 context, depending on how the return value will be used, and the context
6828 may vary from one execution to the next (see
6829 L<C<wantarray>|/wantarray>). If no EXPR
6830 is given, returns an empty list in list context, the undefined value in
6831 scalar context, and (of course) nothing at all in void context.
6833 (In the absence of an explicit L<C<return>|/return EXPR>, a subroutine,
6834 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR>,
6835 or L<C<do FILE>|/do EXPR> automatically returns the value of the last expression
6838 Unlike most named operators, this is also exempt from the
6839 looks-like-a-function rule, so C<return ("foo")."bar"> will
6840 cause C<"bar"> to be part of the argument to L<C<return>|/return EXPR>.
6843 X<reverse> X<rev> X<invert>
6845 =for Pod::Functions flip a string or a list
6847 In list context, returns a list value consisting of the elements
6848 of LIST in the opposite order. In scalar context, concatenates the
6849 elements of LIST and returns a string value with all characters
6850 in the opposite order.
6852 print join(", ", reverse "world", "Hello"); # Hello, world
6854 print scalar reverse "dlrow ,", "olleH"; # Hello, world
6856 Used without arguments in scalar context, L<C<reverse>|/reverse LIST>
6857 reverses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
6859 $_ = "dlrow ,olleH";
6860 print reverse; # No output, list context
6861 print scalar reverse; # Hello, world
6863 Note that reversing an array to itself (as in C<@a = reverse @a>) will
6864 preserve non-existent elements whenever possible; i.e., for non-magical
6865 arrays or for tied arrays with C<EXISTS> and C<DELETE> methods.
6867 This operator is also handy for inverting a hash, although there are some
6868 caveats. If a value is duplicated in the original hash, only one of those
6869 can be represented as a key in the inverted hash. Also, this has to
6870 unwind one hash and build a whole new one, which may take some time
6871 on a large hash, such as from a DBM file.
6873 my %by_name = reverse %by_address; # Invert the hash
6875 =item rewinddir DIRHANDLE
6878 =for Pod::Functions reset directory handle
6880 Sets the current position to the beginning of the directory for the
6881 L<C<readdir>|/readdir DIRHANDLE> routine on DIRHANDLE.
6883 Portability issues: L<perlport/rewinddir>.
6885 =item rindex STR,SUBSTR,POSITION
6888 =item rindex STR,SUBSTR
6890 =for Pod::Functions right-to-left substring search
6892 Works just like L<C<index>|/index STR,SUBSTR,POSITION> except that it
6893 returns the position of the I<last>
6894 occurrence of SUBSTR in STR. If POSITION is specified, returns the
6895 last occurrence beginning at or before that position.
6897 =item rmdir FILENAME
6898 X<rmdir> X<rd> X<directory, remove>
6902 =for Pod::Functions remove a directory
6904 Deletes the directory specified by FILENAME if that directory is
6905 empty. If it succeeds it returns true; otherwise it returns false and
6906 sets L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> (errno). If FILENAME is omitted, uses
6907 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
6909 To remove a directory tree recursively (C<rm -rf> on Unix) look at
6910 the L<C<rmtree>|File::Path/rmtree( $dir )> function of the L<File::Path>
6915 =for Pod::Functions replace a pattern with a string
6917 The substitution operator. See L<perlop/"Regexp Quote-Like Operators">.
6919 =item say FILEHANDLE LIST
6922 =item say FILEHANDLE
6928 =for Pod::Functions +say output a list to a filehandle, appending a newline
6930 Just like L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST>, but implicitly appends a
6931 newline at the end of the LIST instead of any value L<C<$\>|perlvar/$\>
6932 might have. To use FILEHANDLE without a LIST to
6933 print the contents of L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> to it, you must use a bareword
6934 filehandle like C<FH>, not an indirect one like C<$fh>.
6936 L<C<say>|/say FILEHANDLE LIST> is available only if the
6937 L<C<"say"> feature|feature/The 'say' feature> is enabled or if it is
6938 prefixed with C<CORE::>. The
6939 L<C<"say"> feature|feature/The 'say' feature> is enabled automatically
6940 with a C<use v5.10> (or higher) declaration in the current scope.
6943 X<scalar> X<context>
6945 =for Pod::Functions force a scalar context
6947 Forces EXPR to be interpreted in scalar context and returns the value
6950 my @counts = ( scalar @a, scalar @b, scalar @c );
6952 There is no equivalent operator to force an expression to
6953 be interpolated in list context because in practice, this is never
6954 needed. If you really wanted to do so, however, you could use
6955 the construction C<@{[ (some expression) ]}>, but usually a simple
6956 C<(some expression)> suffices.
6958 Because L<C<scalar>|/scalar EXPR> is a unary operator, if you
6960 parenthesized list for the EXPR, this behaves as a scalar comma expression,
6961 evaluating all but the last element in void context and returning the final
6962 element evaluated in scalar context. This is seldom what you want.
6964 The following single statement:
6966 print uc(scalar(foo(), $bar)), $baz;
6968 is the moral equivalent of these two:
6971 print(uc($bar), $baz);
6973 See L<perlop> for more details on unary operators and the comma operator,
6974 and L<perldata> for details on evaluating a hash in scalar context.
6976 =item seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE
6977 X<seek> X<fseek> X<filehandle, position>
6979 =for Pod::Functions reposition file pointer for random-access I/O
6981 Sets FILEHANDLE's position, just like the L<fseek(3)> call of C C<stdio>.
6982 FILEHANDLE may be an expression whose value gives the name of the
6983 filehandle. The values for WHENCE are C<0> to set the new position
6984 I<in bytes> to POSITION; C<1> to set it to the current position plus
6985 POSITION; and C<2> to set it to EOF plus POSITION, typically
6986 negative. For WHENCE you may use the constants C<SEEK_SET>,
6987 C<SEEK_CUR>, and C<SEEK_END> (start of the file, current position, end
6988 of the file) from the L<Fcntl> module. Returns C<1> on success, false
6991 Note the emphasis on bytes: even if the filehandle has been set to operate
6992 on characters (for example using the C<:encoding(UTF-8)> I/O layer), the
6993 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
6994 L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE>, and
6995 L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>
6996 family of functions use byte offsets, not character offsets,
6997 because seeking to a character offset would be very slow in a UTF-8 file.
6999 If you want to position the file for
7000 L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET> or
7001 L<C<syswrite>|/syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>, don't use
7002 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>, because buffering makes its
7003 effect on the file's read-write position unpredictable and non-portable.
7004 Use L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE> instead.
7006 Due to the rules and rigors of ANSI C, on some systems you have to do a
7007 seek whenever you switch between reading and writing. Amongst other
7008 things, this may have the effect of calling stdio's L<clearerr(3)>.
7009 A WHENCE of C<1> (C<SEEK_CUR>) is useful for not moving the file position:
7013 This is also useful for applications emulating C<tail -f>. Once you hit
7014 EOF on your read and then sleep for a while, you (probably) have to stick in a
7015 dummy L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE> to reset things. The
7016 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE> doesn't change the position,
7017 but it I<does> clear the end-of-file condition on the handle, so that the
7018 next C<readline FILE> makes Perl try again to read something. (We hope.)
7020 If that doesn't work (some I/O implementations are particularly
7021 cantankerous), you might need something like this:
7024 for ($curpos = tell($fh); $_ = readline($fh);
7025 $curpos = tell($fh)) {
7026 # search for some stuff and put it into files
7028 sleep($for_a_while);
7029 seek($fh, $curpos, 0);
7032 =item seekdir DIRHANDLE,POS
7035 =for Pod::Functions reposition directory pointer
7037 Sets the current position for the L<C<readdir>|/readdir DIRHANDLE>
7038 routine on DIRHANDLE. POS must be a value returned by
7039 L<C<telldir>|/telldir DIRHANDLE>. L<C<seekdir>|/seekdir DIRHANDLE,POS>
7040 also has the same caveats about possible directory compaction as the
7041 corresponding system library routine.
7043 =item select FILEHANDLE
7044 X<select> X<filehandle, default>
7048 =for Pod::Functions reset default output or do I/O multiplexing
7050 Returns the currently selected filehandle. If FILEHANDLE is supplied,
7051 sets the new current default filehandle for output. This has two
7052 effects: first, a L<C<write>|/write FILEHANDLE> or a L<C<print>|/print
7053 FILEHANDLE LIST> without a filehandle
7054 default to this FILEHANDLE. Second, references to variables related to
7055 output will refer to this output channel.
7057 For example, to set the top-of-form format for more than one
7058 output channel, you might do the following:
7065 FILEHANDLE may be an expression whose value gives the name of the
7066 actual filehandle. Thus:
7068 my $oldfh = select(STDERR); $| = 1; select($oldfh);
7070 Some programmers may prefer to think of filehandles as objects with
7071 methods, preferring to write the last example as:
7073 STDERR->autoflush(1);
7075 (Prior to Perl version 5.14, you have to C<use IO::Handle;> explicitly
7078 Portability issues: L<perlport/select>.
7080 =item select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT
7083 This calls the L<select(2)> syscall with the bit masks specified, which
7084 can be constructed using L<C<fileno>|/fileno FILEHANDLE> and
7085 L<C<vec>|/vec EXPR,OFFSET,BITS>, along these lines:
7087 my $rin = my $win = my $ein = '';
7088 vec($rin, fileno(STDIN), 1) = 1;
7089 vec($win, fileno(STDOUT), 1) = 1;
7092 If you want to select on many filehandles, you may wish to write a
7093 subroutine like this:
7098 for my $fh (@fhlist) {
7099 vec($bits, fileno($fh), 1) = 1;
7103 my $rin = fhbits(\*STDIN, $tty, $mysock);
7107 my ($nfound, $timeleft) =
7108 select(my $rout = $rin, my $wout = $win, my $eout = $ein,
7111 or to block until something becomes ready just do this
7114 select(my $rout = $rin, my $wout = $win, my $eout = $ein, undef);
7116 Most systems do not bother to return anything useful in C<$timeleft>, so
7117 calling L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT> in scalar context
7118 just returns C<$nfound>.
7120 Any of the bit masks can also be L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>. The timeout,
7122 in seconds, which may be fractional. Note: not all implementations are
7123 capable of returning the C<$timeleft>. If not, they always return
7124 C<$timeleft> equal to the supplied C<$timeout>.
7126 You can effect a sleep of 250 milliseconds this way:
7128 select(undef, undef, undef, 0.25);
7130 Note that whether L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT> gets
7131 restarted after signals (say, SIGALRM) is implementation-dependent. See
7132 also L<perlport> for notes on the portability of
7133 L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT>.
7135 On error, L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT> behaves just
7136 like L<select(2)>: it returns C<-1> and sets L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!>.
7138 On some Unixes, L<select(2)> may report a socket file descriptor as
7139 "ready for reading" even when no data is available, and thus any
7140 subsequent L<C<read>|/read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET> would block.
7141 This can be avoided if you always use C<O_NONBLOCK> on the socket. See
7142 L<select(2)> and L<fcntl(2)> for further details.
7144 The standard L<C<IO::Select>|IO::Select> module provides a
7145 user-friendlier interface to
7146 L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT>, mostly because it does
7147 all the bit-mask work for you.
7149 B<WARNING>: One should not attempt to mix buffered I/O (like
7150 L<C<read>|/read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET> or
7151 L<C<readline>|/readline EXPR>) with
7152 L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT>, except as permitted by
7153 POSIX, and even then only on POSIX systems. You have to use
7154 L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET> instead.
7156 Portability issues: L<perlport/select>.
7158 =item semctl ID,SEMNUM,CMD,ARG
7161 =for Pod::Functions SysV semaphore control operations
7163 Calls the System V IPC function L<semctl(2)>. You'll probably have to say
7167 first to get the correct constant definitions. If CMD is IPC_STAT or
7168 GETALL, then ARG must be a variable that will hold the returned
7169 semid_ds structure or semaphore value array. Returns like
7170 L<C<ioctl>|/ioctl FILEHANDLE,FUNCTION,SCALAR>:
7171 the undefined value for error, "C<0 but true>" for zero, or the actual
7172 return value otherwise. The ARG must consist of a vector of native
7173 short integers, which may be created with C<pack("s!",(0)x$nsem)>.
7174 See also L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the documentation for
7175 L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV> and L<C<IPC::Semaphore>|IPC::Semaphore>.
7177 Portability issues: L<perlport/semctl>.
7179 =item semget KEY,NSEMS,FLAGS
7182 =for Pod::Functions get set of SysV semaphores
7184 Calls the System V IPC function L<semget(2)>. Returns the semaphore id, or
7185 the undefined value on error. See also
7186 L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the documentation for
7187 L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV> and L<C<IPC::Semaphore>|IPC::Semaphore>.
7189 Portability issues: L<perlport/semget>.
7191 =item semop KEY,OPSTRING
7194 =for Pod::Functions SysV semaphore operations
7196 Calls the System V IPC function L<semop(2)> for semaphore operations
7197 such as signalling and waiting. OPSTRING must be a packed array of
7198 semop structures. Each semop structure can be generated with
7199 C<pack("s!3", $semnum, $semop, $semflag)>. The length of OPSTRING
7200 implies the number of semaphore operations. Returns true if
7201 successful, false on error. As an example, the
7202 following code waits on semaphore $semnum of semaphore id $semid:
7204 my $semop = pack("s!3", $semnum, -1, 0);
7205 die "Semaphore trouble: $!\n" unless semop($semid, $semop);
7207 To signal the semaphore, replace C<-1> with C<1>. See also
7208 L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the documentation for
7209 L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV> and L<C<IPC::Semaphore>|IPC::Semaphore>.
7211 Portability issues: L<perlport/semop>.
7213 =item send SOCKET,MSG,FLAGS,TO
7216 =item send SOCKET,MSG,FLAGS
7218 =for Pod::Functions send a message over a socket
7220 Sends a message on a socket. Attempts to send the scalar MSG to the SOCKET
7221 filehandle. Takes the same flags as the system call of the same name. On
7222 unconnected sockets, you must specify a destination to I<send to>, in which
7223 case it does a L<sendto(2)> syscall. Returns the number of characters sent,
7224 or the undefined value on error. The L<sendmsg(2)> syscall is currently
7225 unimplemented. See L<perlipc/"UDP: Message Passing"> for examples.
7227 Note that if the socket has been marked as C<:utf8>, C<send> will
7228 throw an exception. The C<:encoding(...)> layer implicitly introduces
7229 the C<:utf8> layer. See L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>.
7231 =item setpgrp PID,PGRP
7234 =for Pod::Functions set the process group of a process
7236 Sets the current process group for the specified PID, C<0> for the current
7237 process. Raises an exception when used on a machine that doesn't
7238 implement POSIX L<setpgid(2)> or BSD L<setpgrp(2)>. If the arguments
7239 are omitted, it defaults to C<0,0>. Note that the BSD 4.2 version of
7240 L<C<setpgrp>|/setpgrp PID,PGRP> does not accept any arguments, so only
7241 C<setpgrp(0,0)> is portable. See also
7242 L<C<POSIX::setsid()>|POSIX/C<setsid>>.
7244 Portability issues: L<perlport/setpgrp>.
7246 =item setpriority WHICH,WHO,PRIORITY
7247 X<setpriority> X<priority> X<nice> X<renice>
7249 =for Pod::Functions set a process's nice value
7251 Sets the current priority for a process, a process group, or a user.
7252 (See L<setpriority(2)>.) Raises an exception when used on a machine
7253 that doesn't implement L<setpriority(2)>.
7255 C<WHICH> can be any of C<PRIO_PROCESS>, C<PRIO_PGRP> or C<PRIO_USER>
7256 imported from L<POSIX/RESOURCE CONSTANTS>.
7258 Portability issues: L<perlport/setpriority>.
7260 =item setsockopt SOCKET,LEVEL,OPTNAME,OPTVAL
7263 =for Pod::Functions set some socket options
7265 Sets the socket option requested. Returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> on
7266 error. Use integer constants provided by the L<C<Socket>|Socket> module
7268 LEVEL and OPNAME. Values for LEVEL can also be obtained from
7269 getprotobyname. OPTVAL might either be a packed string or an integer.
7270 An integer OPTVAL is shorthand for pack("i", OPTVAL).
7272 An example disabling Nagle's algorithm on a socket:
7274 use Socket qw(IPPROTO_TCP TCP_NODELAY);
7275 setsockopt($socket, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY, 1);
7277 Portability issues: L<perlport/setsockopt>.
7284 =for Pod::Functions remove the first element of an array, and return it
7286 Shifts the first value of the array off and returns it, shortening the
7287 array by 1 and moving everything down. If there are no elements in the
7288 array, returns the undefined value. If ARRAY is omitted, shifts the
7289 L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_> array within the lexical scope of subroutines and
7290 formats, and the L<C<@ARGV>|perlvar/@ARGV> array outside a subroutine
7291 and also within the lexical scopes
7292 established by the C<eval STRING>, C<BEGIN {}>, C<INIT {}>, C<CHECK {}>,
7293 C<UNITCHECK {}>, and C<END {}> constructs.
7295 Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed
7296 L<C<shift>|/shift ARRAY> to take a
7297 scalar expression. This experiment has been deemed unsuccessful, and was
7298 removed as of Perl 5.24.
7300 See also L<C<unshift>|/unshift ARRAY,LIST>, L<C<push>|/push ARRAY,LIST>,
7301 and L<C<pop>|/pop ARRAY>. L<C<shift>|/shift ARRAY> and
7302 L<C<unshift>|/unshift ARRAY,LIST> do the same thing to the left end of
7303 an array that L<C<pop>|/pop ARRAY> and L<C<push>|/push ARRAY,LIST> do to
7306 =item shmctl ID,CMD,ARG
7309 =for Pod::Functions SysV shared memory operations
7311 Calls the System V IPC function shmctl. You'll probably have to say
7315 first to get the correct constant definitions. If CMD is C<IPC_STAT>,
7316 then ARG must be a variable that will hold the returned C<shmid_ds>
7317 structure. Returns like ioctl: L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> for error; "C<0>
7318 but true" for zero; and the actual return value otherwise.
7319 See also L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the documentation for
7320 L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV>.
7322 Portability issues: L<perlport/shmctl>.
7324 =item shmget KEY,SIZE,FLAGS
7327 =for Pod::Functions get SysV shared memory segment identifier
7329 Calls the System V IPC function shmget. Returns the shared memory
7330 segment id, or L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> on error.
7331 See also L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the documentation for
7332 L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV>.
7334 Portability issues: L<perlport/shmget>.
7336 =item shmread ID,VAR,POS,SIZE
7340 =for Pod::Functions read SysV shared memory
7342 =item shmwrite ID,STRING,POS,SIZE
7344 =for Pod::Functions write SysV shared memory
7346 Reads or writes the System V shared memory segment ID starting at
7347 position POS for size SIZE by attaching to it, copying in/out, and
7348 detaching from it. When reading, VAR must be a variable that will
7349 hold the data read. When writing, if STRING is too long, only SIZE
7350 bytes are used; if STRING is too short, nulls are written to fill out
7351 SIZE bytes. Return true if successful, false on error.
7352 L<C<shmread>|/shmread ID,VAR,POS,SIZE> taints the variable. See also
7353 L<perlipc/"SysV IPC"> and the documentation for
7354 L<C<IPC::SysV>|IPC::SysV> and the L<C<IPC::Shareable>|IPC::Shareable>
7357 Portability issues: L<perlport/shmread> and L<perlport/shmwrite>.
7359 =item shutdown SOCKET,HOW
7362 =for Pod::Functions close down just half of a socket connection
7364 Shuts down a socket connection in the manner indicated by HOW, which
7365 has the same interpretation as in the syscall of the same name.
7367 shutdown($socket, 0); # I/we have stopped reading data
7368 shutdown($socket, 1); # I/we have stopped writing data
7369 shutdown($socket, 2); # I/we have stopped using this socket
7371 This is useful with sockets when you want to tell the other
7372 side you're done writing but not done reading, or vice versa.
7373 It's also a more insistent form of close because it also
7374 disables the file descriptor in any forked copies in other
7377 Returns C<1> for success; on error, returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> if
7378 the first argument is not a valid filehandle, or returns C<0> and sets
7379 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> for any other failure.
7382 X<sin> X<sine> X<asin> X<arcsine>
7386 =for Pod::Functions return the sine of a number
7388 Returns the sine of EXPR (expressed in radians). If EXPR is omitted,
7389 returns sine of L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
7391 For the inverse sine operation, you may use the C<Math::Trig::asin>
7392 function, or use this relation:
7394 sub asin { atan2($_[0], sqrt(1 - $_[0] * $_[0])) }
7401 =for Pod::Functions block for some number of seconds
7403 Causes the script to sleep for (integer) EXPR seconds, or forever if no
7404 argument is given. Returns the integer number of seconds actually slept.
7406 EXPR should be a positive integer. If called with a negative integer,
7407 L<C<sleep>|/sleep EXPR> does not sleep but instead emits a warning, sets
7408 $! (C<errno>), and returns zero.
7410 C<sleep 0> is permitted, but a function call to the underlying platform
7411 implementation still occurs, with any side effects that may have.
7412 C<sleep 0> is therefore not exactly identical to not sleeping at all.
7414 May be interrupted if the process receives a signal such as C<SIGALRM>.
7417 local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "Alarm!\n" };
7420 die $@ unless $@ eq "Alarm!\n";
7422 You probably cannot mix L<C<alarm>|/alarm SECONDS> and
7423 L<C<sleep>|/sleep EXPR> calls, because L<C<sleep>|/sleep EXPR> is often
7424 implemented using L<C<alarm>|/alarm SECONDS>.
7426 On some older systems, it may sleep up to a full second less than what
7427 you requested, depending on how it counts seconds. Most modern systems
7428 always sleep the full amount. They may appear to sleep longer than that,
7429 however, because your process might not be scheduled right away in a
7430 busy multitasking system.
7432 For delays of finer granularity than one second, the L<Time::HiRes>
7433 module (from CPAN, and starting from Perl 5.8 part of the standard
7434 distribution) provides L<C<usleep>|Time::HiRes/usleep ( $useconds )>.
7435 You may also use Perl's four-argument
7436 version of L<C<select>|/select RBITS,WBITS,EBITS,TIMEOUT> leaving the
7437 first three arguments undefined, or you might be able to use the
7438 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST> interface to access L<setitimer(2)>
7439 if your system supports it. See L<perlfaq8> for details.
7441 See also the L<POSIX> module's L<C<pause>|POSIX/C<pause>> function.
7443 =item socket SOCKET,DOMAIN,TYPE,PROTOCOL
7446 =for Pod::Functions create a socket
7448 Opens a socket of the specified kind and attaches it to filehandle
7449 SOCKET. DOMAIN, TYPE, and PROTOCOL are specified the same as for
7450 the syscall of the same name. You should C<use Socket> first
7451 to get the proper definitions imported. See the examples in
7452 L<perlipc/"Sockets: Client/Server Communication">.
7454 On systems that support a close-on-exec flag on files, the flag will
7455 be set for the newly opened file descriptor, as determined by the
7456 value of L<C<$^F>|perlvar/$^F>. See L<perlvar/$^F>.
7458 =item socketpair SOCKET1,SOCKET2,DOMAIN,TYPE,PROTOCOL
7461 =for Pod::Functions create a pair of sockets
7463 Creates an unnamed pair of sockets in the specified domain, of the
7464 specified type. DOMAIN, TYPE, and PROTOCOL are specified the same as
7465 for the syscall of the same name. If unimplemented, raises an exception.
7466 Returns true if successful.
7468 On systems that support a close-on-exec flag on files, the flag will
7469 be set for the newly opened file descriptors, as determined by the value
7470 of L<C<$^F>|perlvar/$^F>. See L<perlvar/$^F>.
7472 Some systems define L<C<pipe>|/pipe READHANDLE,WRITEHANDLE> in terms of
7473 L<C<socketpair>|/socketpair SOCKET1,SOCKET2,DOMAIN,TYPE,PROTOCOL>, in
7474 which a call to C<pipe($rdr, $wtr)> is essentially:
7477 socketpair(my $rdr, my $wtr, AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, PF_UNSPEC);
7478 shutdown($rdr, 1); # no more writing for reader
7479 shutdown($wtr, 0); # no more reading for writer
7481 See L<perlipc> for an example of socketpair use. Perl 5.8 and later will
7482 emulate socketpair using IP sockets to localhost if your system implements
7483 sockets but not socketpair.
7485 Portability issues: L<perlport/socketpair>.
7487 =item sort SUBNAME LIST
7490 =item sort BLOCK LIST
7494 =for Pod::Functions sort a list of values
7496 In list context, this sorts the LIST and returns the sorted list value.
7497 In scalar context, the behaviour of L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST> is
7500 If SUBNAME or BLOCK is omitted, L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST>s in
7501 standard string comparison
7502 order. If SUBNAME is specified, it gives the name of a subroutine
7503 that returns an integer less than, equal to, or greater than C<0>,
7504 depending on how the elements of the list are to be ordered. (The
7505 C<< <=> >> and C<cmp> operators are extremely useful in such routines.)
7506 SUBNAME may be a scalar variable name (unsubscripted), in which case
7507 the value provides the name of (or a reference to) the actual
7508 subroutine to use. In place of a SUBNAME, you can provide a BLOCK as
7509 an anonymous, in-line sort subroutine.
7511 If the subroutine's prototype is C<($$)>, the elements to be compared are
7512 passed by reference in L<C<@_>|perlvar/@_>, as for a normal subroutine.
7513 This is slower than unprototyped subroutines, where the elements to be
7514 compared are passed into the subroutine as the package global variables
7515 C<$a> and C<$b> (see example below).
7517 If the subroutine is an XSUB, the elements to be compared are pushed on
7518 to the stack, the way arguments are usually passed to XSUBs. C<$a> and
7521 The values to be compared are always passed by reference and should not
7524 You also cannot exit out of the sort block or subroutine using any of the
7525 loop control operators described in L<perlsyn> or with
7526 L<C<goto>|/goto LABEL>.
7528 When L<C<use locale>|locale> (but not C<use locale ':not_characters'>)
7529 is in effect, C<sort LIST> sorts LIST according to the
7530 current collation locale. See L<perllocale>.
7532 L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST> returns aliases into the original list,
7533 much as a for loop's index variable aliases the list elements. That is,
7534 modifying an element of a list returned by L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST>
7535 (for example, in a C<foreach>, L<C<map>|/map BLOCK LIST> or
7536 L<C<grep>|/grep BLOCK LIST>)
7537 actually modifies the element in the original list. This is usually
7538 something to be avoided when writing clear code.
7540 Historically Perl has varied in whether sorting is stable by default.
7541 If stability matters, it can be controlled explicitly by using the
7547 my @articles = sort @files;
7549 # same thing, but with explicit sort routine
7550 my @articles = sort {$a cmp $b} @files;
7552 # now case-insensitively
7553 my @articles = sort {fc($a) cmp fc($b)} @files;
7555 # same thing in reversed order
7556 my @articles = sort {$b cmp $a} @files;
7558 # sort numerically ascending
7559 my @articles = sort {$a <=> $b} @files;
7561 # sort numerically descending
7562 my @articles = sort {$b <=> $a} @files;
7564 # this sorts the %age hash by value instead of key
7565 # using an in-line function
7566 my @eldest = sort { $age{$b} <=> $age{$a} } keys %age;
7568 # sort using explicit subroutine name
7570 $age{$a} <=> $age{$b}; # presuming numeric
7572 my @sortedclass = sort byage @class;
7574 sub backwards { $b cmp $a }
7575 my @harry = qw(dog cat x Cain Abel);
7576 my @george = qw(gone chased yz Punished Axed);
7578 # prints AbelCaincatdogx
7579 print sort backwards @harry;
7580 # prints xdogcatCainAbel
7581 print sort @george, 'to', @harry;
7582 # prints AbelAxedCainPunishedcatchaseddoggonetoxyz
7584 # inefficiently sort by descending numeric compare using
7585 # the first integer after the first = sign, or the
7586 # whole record case-insensitively otherwise
7589 ($b =~ /=(\d+)/)[0] <=> ($a =~ /=(\d+)/)[0]
7594 # same thing, but much more efficiently;
7595 # we'll build auxiliary indices instead
7599 push @nums, ( /=(\d+)/ ? $1 : undef );
7603 my @new = @old[ sort {
7604 $nums[$b] <=> $nums[$a]
7606 $caps[$a] cmp $caps[$b]
7610 # same thing, but without any temps
7611 my @new = map { $_->[0] }
7612 sort { $b->[1] <=> $a->[1]
7615 } map { [$_, /=(\d+)/, fc($_)] } @old;
7617 # using a prototype allows you to use any comparison subroutine
7618 # as a sort subroutine (including other package's subroutines)
7620 sub backwards ($$) { $_[1] cmp $_[0]; } # $a and $b are
7623 my @new = sort Other::backwards @old;
7625 # guarantee stability
7627 my @new = sort { substr($a, 3, 5) cmp substr($b, 3, 5) } @old;
7629 Warning: syntactical care is required when sorting the list returned from
7630 a function. If you want to sort the list returned by the function call
7631 C<find_records(@key)>, you can use:
7633 my @contact = sort { $a cmp $b } find_records @key;
7634 my @contact = sort +find_records(@key);
7635 my @contact = sort &find_records(@key);
7636 my @contact = sort(find_records(@key));
7638 If instead you want to sort the array C<@key> with the comparison routine
7639 C<find_records()> then you can use:
7641 my @contact = sort { find_records() } @key;
7642 my @contact = sort find_records(@key);
7643 my @contact = sort(find_records @key);
7644 my @contact = sort(find_records (@key));
7646 C<$a> and C<$b> are set as package globals in the package the sort() is
7647 called from. That means C<$main::a> and C<$main::b> (or C<$::a> and
7648 C<$::b>) in the C<main> package, C<$FooPack::a> and C<$FooPack::b> in the
7649 C<FooPack> package, etc. If the sort block is in scope of a C<my> or
7650 C<state> declaration of C<$a> and/or C<$b>, you I<must> spell out the full
7651 name of the variables in the sort block :
7654 my $a = "C"; # DANGER, Will Robinson, DANGER !!!
7656 print sort { $a cmp $b } qw(A C E G B D F H);
7658 sub badlexi { $a cmp $b }
7659 print sort badlexi qw(A C E G B D F H);
7661 # the above prints BACFEDGH or some other incorrect ordering
7663 print sort { $::a cmp $::b } qw(A C E G B D F H);
7665 print sort { our $a cmp our $b } qw(A C E G B D F H);
7667 print sort { our ($a, $b); $a cmp $b } qw(A C E G B D F H);
7669 sub lexi { our $a cmp our $b }
7670 print sort lexi qw(A C E G B D F H);
7672 # the above print ABCDEFGH
7674 With proper care you may mix package and my (or state) C<$a> and/or C<$b>:
7684 say sort { $a->{our $a} <=> $a->{our $b} }
7685 qw{ huge normal tiny small big};
7687 # prints tinysmallnormalbighuge
7689 C<$a> and C<$b> are implicitly local to the sort() execution and regain their
7690 former values upon completing the sort.
7692 Sort subroutines written using C<$a> and C<$b> are bound to their calling
7693 package. It is possible, but of limited interest, to define them in a
7694 different package, since the subroutine must still refer to the calling
7695 package's C<$a> and C<$b> :
7698 sub lexi { $Bar::a cmp $Bar::b }
7700 ... sort Foo::lexi ...
7702 Use the prototyped versions (see above) for a more generic alternative.
7704 The comparison function is required to behave. If it returns
7705 inconsistent results (sometimes saying C<$x[1]> is less than C<$x[2]> and
7706 sometimes saying the opposite, for example) the results are not
7709 Because C<< <=> >> returns L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> when either operand
7710 is C<NaN> (not-a-number), be careful when sorting with a
7711 comparison function like C<< $a <=> $b >> any lists that might contain a
7712 C<NaN>. The following example takes advantage that C<NaN != NaN> to
7713 eliminate any C<NaN>s from the input list.
7715 my @result = sort { $a <=> $b } grep { $_ == $_ } @input;
7717 =item splice ARRAY,OFFSET,LENGTH,LIST
7720 =item splice ARRAY,OFFSET,LENGTH
7722 =item splice ARRAY,OFFSET
7726 =for Pod::Functions add or remove elements anywhere in an array
7728 Removes the elements designated by OFFSET and LENGTH from an array, and
7729 replaces them with the elements of LIST, if any. In list context,
7730 returns the elements removed from the array. In scalar context,
7731 returns the last element removed, or L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> if no
7733 removed. The array grows or shrinks as necessary.
7734 If OFFSET is negative then it starts that far from the end of the array.
7735 If LENGTH is omitted, removes everything from OFFSET onward.
7736 If LENGTH is negative, removes the elements from OFFSET onward
7737 except for -LENGTH elements at the end of the array.
7738 If both OFFSET and LENGTH are omitted, removes everything. If OFFSET is
7739 past the end of the array and a LENGTH was provided, Perl issues a warning,
7740 and splices at the end of the array.
7742 The following equivalences hold (assuming C<< $#a >= $i >> )
7744 push(@a,$x,$y) splice(@a,@a,0,$x,$y)
7745 pop(@a) splice(@a,-1)
7746 shift(@a) splice(@a,0,1)
7747 unshift(@a,$x,$y) splice(@a,0,0,$x,$y)
7748 $a[$i] = $y splice(@a,$i,1,$y)
7750 L<C<splice>|/splice ARRAY,OFFSET,LENGTH,LIST> can be used, for example,
7751 to implement n-ary queue processing:
7755 while (my @next_n = splice @_, 0, $n) {
7756 say join q{ -- }, @next_n;
7760 nary_print(3, qw(a b c d e f g h));
7766 Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed
7767 L<C<splice>|/splice ARRAY,OFFSET,LENGTH,LIST> to take a
7768 scalar expression. This experiment has been deemed unsuccessful, and was
7769 removed as of Perl 5.24.
7771 =item split /PATTERN/,EXPR,LIMIT
7774 =item split /PATTERN/,EXPR
7776 =item split /PATTERN/
7780 =for Pod::Functions split up a string using a regexp delimiter
7782 Splits the string EXPR into a list of strings and returns the
7783 list in list context, or the size of the list in scalar context.
7784 (Prior to Perl 5.11, it also overwrote C<@_> with the list in
7785 void and scalar context. If you target old perls, beware.)
7787 If only PATTERN is given, EXPR defaults to L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
7789 Anything in EXPR that matches PATTERN is taken to be a separator
7790 that separates the EXPR into substrings (called "I<fields>") that
7791 do B<not> include the separator. Note that a separator may be
7792 longer than one character or even have no characters at all (the
7793 empty string, which is a zero-width match).
7795 The PATTERN need not be constant; an expression may be used
7796 to specify a pattern that varies at runtime.
7798 If PATTERN matches the empty string, the EXPR is split at the match
7799 position (between characters). As an example, the following:
7801 print join(':', split(/b/, 'abc')), "\n";
7803 uses the C<b> in C<'abc'> as a separator to produce the output C<a:c>.
7806 print join(':', split(//, 'abc')), "\n";
7808 uses empty string matches as separators to produce the output
7809 C<a:b:c>; thus, the empty string may be used to split EXPR into a
7810 list of its component characters.
7812 As a special case for L<C<split>|/split E<sol>PATTERNE<sol>,EXPR,LIMIT>,
7813 the empty pattern given in
7814 L<match operator|perlop/"m/PATTERN/msixpodualngc"> syntax (C<//>)
7815 specifically matches the empty string, which is contrary to its usual
7816 interpretation as the last successful match.
7818 If PATTERN is C</^/>, then it is treated as if it used the
7819 L<multiline modifier|perlreref/OPERATORS> (C</^/m>), since it
7820 isn't much use otherwise.
7822 C<E<sol>m> and any of the other pattern modifiers valid for C<qr>
7823 (summarized in L<perlop/qrE<sol>STRINGE<sol>msixpodualn>) may be
7824 specified explicitly.
7826 As another special case,
7827 L<C<split>|/split E<sol>PATTERNE<sol>,EXPR,LIMIT> emulates the default
7829 command line tool B<awk> when the PATTERN is either omitted or a
7830 string composed of a single space character (such as S<C<' '>> or
7831 S<C<"\x20">>, but not e.g. S<C</ />>). In this case, any leading
7832 whitespace in EXPR is removed before splitting occurs, and the PATTERN is
7833 instead treated as if it were C</\s+/>; in particular, this means that
7834 I<any> contiguous whitespace (not just a single space character) is used as
7835 a separator. However, this special treatment can be avoided by specifying
7836 the pattern S<C</ />> instead of the string S<C<" ">>, thereby allowing
7837 only a single space character to be a separator. In earlier Perls this
7838 special case was restricted to the use of a plain S<C<" ">> as the
7839 pattern argument to split; in Perl 5.18.0 and later this special case is
7840 triggered by any expression which evaluates to the simple string S<C<" ">>.
7842 As of Perl 5.28, this special-cased whitespace splitting works as expected in
7843 the scope of L<< S<C<"use feature 'unicode_strings">>|feature/The
7844 'unicode_strings' feature >>. In previous versions, and outside the scope of
7845 that feature, it exhibits L<perlunicode/The "Unicode Bug">: characters that are
7846 whitespace according to Unicode rules but not according to ASCII rules can be
7847 treated as part of fields rather than as field separators, depending on the
7848 string's internal encoding.
7850 If omitted, PATTERN defaults to a single space, S<C<" ">>, triggering
7851 the previously described I<awk> emulation.
7853 If LIMIT is specified and positive, it represents the maximum number
7854 of fields into which the EXPR may be split; in other words, LIMIT is
7855 one greater than the maximum number of times EXPR may be split. Thus,
7856 the LIMIT value C<1> means that EXPR may be split a maximum of zero
7857 times, producing a maximum of one field (namely, the entire value of
7858 EXPR). For instance:
7860 print join(':', split(//, 'abc', 1)), "\n";
7862 produces the output C<abc>, and this:
7864 print join(':', split(//, 'abc', 2)), "\n";
7866 produces the output C<a:bc>, and each of these:
7868 print join(':', split(//, 'abc', 3)), "\n";
7869 print join(':', split(//, 'abc', 4)), "\n";
7871 produces the output C<a:b:c>.
7873 If LIMIT is negative, it is treated as if it were instead arbitrarily
7874 large; as many fields as possible are produced.
7876 If LIMIT is omitted (or, equivalently, zero), then it is usually
7877 treated as if it were instead negative but with the exception that
7878 trailing empty fields are stripped (empty leading fields are always
7879 preserved); if all fields are empty, then all fields are considered to
7880 be trailing (and are thus stripped in this case). Thus, the following:
7882 print join(':', split(/,/, 'a,b,c,,,')), "\n";
7884 produces the output C<a:b:c>, but the following:
7886 print join(':', split(/,/, 'a,b,c,,,', -1)), "\n";
7888 produces the output C<a:b:c:::>.
7890 In time-critical applications, it is worthwhile to avoid splitting
7891 into more fields than necessary. Thus, when assigning to a list,
7892 if LIMIT is omitted (or zero), then LIMIT is treated as though it
7893 were one larger than the number of variables in the list; for the
7894 following, LIMIT is implicitly 3:
7896 my ($login, $passwd) = split(/:/);
7898 Note that splitting an EXPR that evaluates to the empty string always
7899 produces zero fields, regardless of the LIMIT specified.
7901 An empty leading field is produced when there is a positive-width
7902 match at the beginning of EXPR. For instance:
7904 print join(':', split(/ /, ' abc')), "\n";
7906 produces the output C<:abc>. However, a zero-width match at the
7907 beginning of EXPR never produces an empty field, so that:
7909 print join(':', split(//, ' abc'));
7911 produces the output S<C< :a:b:c>> (rather than S<C<: :a:b:c>>).
7913 An empty trailing field, on the other hand, is produced when there is a
7914 match at the end of EXPR, regardless of the length of the match
7915 (of course, unless a non-zero LIMIT is given explicitly, such fields are
7916 removed, as in the last example). Thus:
7918 print join(':', split(//, ' abc', -1)), "\n";
7920 produces the output S<C< :a:b:c:>>.
7922 If the PATTERN contains
7923 L<capturing groups|perlretut/Grouping things and hierarchical matching>,
7924 then for each separator, an additional field is produced for each substring
7925 captured by a group (in the order in which the groups are specified,
7926 as per L<backreferences|perlretut/Backreferences>); if any group does not
7927 match, then it captures the L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> value instead of a
7929 note that any such additional field is produced whenever there is a
7930 separator (that is, whenever a split occurs), and such an additional field
7931 does B<not> count towards the LIMIT. Consider the following expressions
7932 evaluated in list context (each returned list is provided in the associated
7935 split(/-|,/, "1-10,20", 3)
7938 split(/(-|,)/, "1-10,20", 3)
7939 # ('1', '-', '10', ',', '20')
7941 split(/-|(,)/, "1-10,20", 3)
7942 # ('1', undef, '10', ',', '20')
7944 split(/(-)|,/, "1-10,20", 3)
7945 # ('1', '-', '10', undef, '20')
7947 split(/(-)|(,)/, "1-10,20", 3)
7948 # ('1', '-', undef, '10', undef, ',', '20')
7950 =item sprintf FORMAT, LIST
7953 =for Pod::Functions formatted print into a string
7955 Returns a string formatted by the usual
7956 L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST> conventions of the C
7957 library function L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST>. See below for
7958 more details and see L<sprintf(3)> or L<printf(3)> on your system for an
7959 explanation of the general principles.
7963 # Format number with up to 8 leading zeroes
7964 my $result = sprintf("%08d", $number);
7966 # Round number to 3 digits after decimal point
7967 my $rounded = sprintf("%.3f", $number);
7969 Perl does its own L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST> formatting: it
7971 function L<sprintf(3)>, but doesn't use it except for floating-point
7972 numbers, and even then only standard modifiers are allowed.
7973 Non-standard extensions in your local L<sprintf(3)> are
7974 therefore unavailable from Perl.
7976 Unlike L<C<printf>|/printf FILEHANDLE FORMAT, LIST>,
7977 L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST> does not do what you probably mean
7978 when you pass it an array as your first argument.
7979 The array is given scalar context,
7980 and instead of using the 0th element of the array as the format, Perl will
7981 use the count of elements in the array as the format, which is almost never
7984 Perl's L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST> permits the following
7985 universally-known conversions:
7988 %c a character with the given number
7990 %d a signed integer, in decimal
7991 %u an unsigned integer, in decimal
7992 %o an unsigned integer, in octal
7993 %x an unsigned integer, in hexadecimal
7994 %e a floating-point number, in scientific notation
7995 %f a floating-point number, in fixed decimal notation
7996 %g a floating-point number, in %e or %f notation
7998 In addition, Perl permits the following widely-supported conversions:
8000 %X like %x, but using upper-case letters
8001 %E like %e, but using an upper-case "E"
8002 %G like %g, but with an upper-case "E" (if applicable)
8003 %b an unsigned integer, in binary
8004 %B like %b, but using an upper-case "B" with the # flag
8005 %p a pointer (outputs the Perl value's address in hexadecimal)
8006 %n special: *stores* the number of characters output so far
8007 into the next argument in the parameter list
8008 %a hexadecimal floating point
8009 %A like %a, but using upper-case letters
8011 Finally, for backward (and we do mean "backward") compatibility, Perl
8012 permits these unnecessary but widely-supported conversions:
8015 %D a synonym for %ld
8016 %U a synonym for %lu
8017 %O a synonym for %lo
8020 Note that the number of exponent digits in the scientific notation produced
8021 by C<%e>, C<%E>, C<%g> and C<%G> for numbers with the modulus of the
8022 exponent less than 100 is system-dependent: it may be three or less
8023 (zero-padded as necessary). In other words, 1.23 times ten to the
8024 99th may be either "1.23e99" or "1.23e099". Similarly for C<%a> and C<%A>:
8025 the exponent or the hexadecimal digits may float: especially the
8026 "long doubles" Perl configuration option may cause surprises.
8028 Between the C<%> and the format letter, you may specify several
8029 additional attributes controlling the interpretation of the format.
8030 In order, these are:
8034 =item format parameter index
8036 An explicit format parameter index, such as C<2$>. By default sprintf
8037 will format the next unused argument in the list, but this allows you
8038 to take the arguments out of order:
8040 printf '%2$d %1$d', 12, 34; # prints "34 12"
8041 printf '%3$d %d %1$d', 1, 2, 3; # prints "3 1 1"
8047 space prefix non-negative number with a space
8048 + prefix non-negative number with a plus sign
8049 - left-justify within the field
8050 0 use zeros, not spaces, to right-justify
8051 # ensure the leading "0" for any octal,
8052 prefix non-zero hexadecimal with "0x" or "0X",
8053 prefix non-zero binary with "0b" or "0B"
8057 printf '<% d>', 12; # prints "< 12>"
8058 printf '<% d>', 0; # prints "< 0>"
8059 printf '<% d>', -12; # prints "<-12>"
8060 printf '<%+d>', 12; # prints "<+12>"
8061 printf '<%+d>', 0; # prints "<+0>"
8062 printf '<%+d>', -12; # prints "<-12>"
8063 printf '<%6s>', 12; # prints "< 12>"
8064 printf '<%-6s>', 12; # prints "<12 >"
8065 printf '<%06s>', 12; # prints "<000012>"
8066 printf '<%#o>', 12; # prints "<014>"
8067 printf '<%#x>', 12; # prints "<0xc>"
8068 printf '<%#X>', 12; # prints "<0XC>"
8069 printf '<%#b>', 12; # prints "<0b1100>"
8070 printf '<%#B>', 12; # prints "<0B1100>"
8072 When a space and a plus sign are given as the flags at once,
8073 the space is ignored.
8075 printf '<%+ d>', 12; # prints "<+12>"
8076 printf '<% +d>', 12; # prints "<+12>"
8078 When the # flag and a precision are given in the %o conversion,
8079 the precision is incremented if it's necessary for the leading "0".
8081 printf '<%#.5o>', 012; # prints "<00012>"
8082 printf '<%#.5o>', 012345; # prints "<012345>"
8083 printf '<%#.0o>', 0; # prints "<0>"
8087 This flag tells Perl to interpret the supplied string as a vector of
8088 integers, one for each character in the string. Perl applies the format to
8089 each integer in turn, then joins the resulting strings with a separator (a
8090 dot C<.> by default). This can be useful for displaying ordinal values of
8091 characters in arbitrary strings:
8093 printf "%vd", "AB\x{100}"; # prints "65.66.256"
8094 printf "version is v%vd\n", $^V; # Perl's version
8096 Put an asterisk C<*> before the C<v> to override the string to
8097 use to separate the numbers:
8099 printf "address is %*vX\n", ":", $addr; # IPv6 address
8100 printf "bits are %0*v8b\n", " ", $bits; # random bitstring
8102 You can also explicitly specify the argument number to use for
8103 the join string using something like C<*2$v>; for example:
8105 printf '%*4$vX %*4$vX %*4$vX', # 3 IPv6 addresses
8108 =item (minimum) width
8110 Arguments are usually formatted to be only as wide as required to
8111 display the given value. You can override the width by putting
8112 a number here, or get the width from the next argument (with C<*>)
8113 or from a specified argument (e.g., with C<*2$>):
8115 printf "<%s>", "a"; # prints "<a>"
8116 printf "<%6s>", "a"; # prints "< a>"
8117 printf "<%*s>", 6, "a"; # prints "< a>"
8118 printf '<%*2$s>', "a", 6; # prints "< a>"
8119 printf "<%2s>", "long"; # prints "<long>" (does not truncate)
8121 If a field width obtained through C<*> is negative, it has the same
8122 effect as the C<-> flag: left-justification.
8124 =item precision, or maximum width
8127 You can specify a precision (for numeric conversions) or a maximum
8128 width (for string conversions) by specifying a C<.> followed by a number.
8129 For floating-point formats except C<g> and C<G>, this specifies
8130 how many places right of the decimal point to show (the default being 6).
8133 # these examples are subject to system-specific variation
8134 printf '<%f>', 1; # prints "<1.000000>"
8135 printf '<%.1f>', 1; # prints "<1.0>"
8136 printf '<%.0f>', 1; # prints "<1>"
8137 printf '<%e>', 10; # prints "<1.000000e+01>"
8138 printf '<%.1e>', 10; # prints "<1.0e+01>"
8140 For "g" and "G", this specifies the maximum number of significant digits to
8143 # These examples are subject to system-specific variation.
8144 printf '<%g>', 1; # prints "<1>"
8145 printf '<%.10g>', 1; # prints "<1>"
8146 printf '<%g>', 100; # prints "<100>"
8147 printf '<%.1g>', 100; # prints "<1e+02>"
8148 printf '<%.2g>', 100.01; # prints "<1e+02>"
8149 printf '<%.5g>', 100.01; # prints "<100.01>"
8150 printf '<%.4g>', 100.01; # prints "<100>"
8151 printf '<%.1g>', 0.0111; # prints "<0.01>"
8152 printf '<%.2g>', 0.0111; # prints "<0.011>"
8153 printf '<%.3g>', 0.0111; # prints "<0.0111>"
8155 For integer conversions, specifying a precision implies that the
8156 output of the number itself should be zero-padded to this width,
8157 where the 0 flag is ignored:
8159 printf '<%.6d>', 1; # prints "<000001>"
8160 printf '<%+.6d>', 1; # prints "<+000001>"
8161 printf '<%-10.6d>', 1; # prints "<000001 >"
8162 printf '<%10.6d>', 1; # prints "< 000001>"
8163 printf '<%010.6d>', 1; # prints "< 000001>"
8164 printf '<%+10.6d>', 1; # prints "< +000001>"
8166 printf '<%.6x>', 1; # prints "<000001>"
8167 printf '<%#.6x>', 1; # prints "<0x000001>"
8168 printf '<%-10.6x>', 1; # prints "<000001 >"
8169 printf '<%10.6x>', 1; # prints "< 000001>"
8170 printf '<%010.6x>', 1; # prints "< 000001>"
8171 printf '<%#10.6x>', 1; # prints "< 0x000001>"
8173 For string conversions, specifying a precision truncates the string
8174 to fit the specified width:
8176 printf '<%.5s>', "truncated"; # prints "<trunc>"
8177 printf '<%10.5s>', "truncated"; # prints "< trunc>"
8179 You can also get the precision from the next argument using C<.*>, or from a
8180 specified argument (e.g., with C<.*2$>):
8182 printf '<%.6x>', 1; # prints "<000001>"
8183 printf '<%.*x>', 6, 1; # prints "<000001>"
8185 printf '<%.*2$x>', 1, 6; # prints "<000001>"
8187 printf '<%6.*2$x>', 1, 4; # prints "< 0001>"
8189 If a precision obtained through C<*> is negative, it counts
8190 as having no precision at all.
8192 printf '<%.*s>', 7, "string"; # prints "<string>"
8193 printf '<%.*s>', 3, "string"; # prints "<str>"
8194 printf '<%.*s>', 0, "string"; # prints "<>"
8195 printf '<%.*s>', -1, "string"; # prints "<string>"
8197 printf '<%.*d>', 1, 0; # prints "<0>"
8198 printf '<%.*d>', 0, 0; # prints "<>"
8199 printf '<%.*d>', -1, 0; # prints "<0>"
8203 For numeric conversions, you can specify the size to interpret the
8204 number as using C<l>, C<h>, C<V>, C<q>, C<L>, or C<ll>. For integer
8205 conversions (C<d u o x X b i D U O>), numbers are usually assumed to be
8206 whatever the default integer size is on your platform (usually 32 or 64
8207 bits), but you can override this to use instead one of the standard C types,
8208 as supported by the compiler used to build Perl:
8210 hh interpret integer as C type "char" or "unsigned
8211 char" on Perl 5.14 or later
8212 h interpret integer as C type "short" or
8214 j interpret integer as C type "intmax_t" on Perl
8215 5.14 or later; and prior to Perl 5.30, only with
8216 a C99 compiler (unportable)
8217 l interpret integer as C type "long" or
8219 q, L, or ll interpret integer as C type "long long",
8220 "unsigned long long", or "quad" (typically
8222 t interpret integer as C type "ptrdiff_t" on Perl
8224 z interpret integer as C types "size_t" or
8225 "ssize_t" on Perl 5.14 or later
8227 As of 5.14, none of these raises an exception if they are not supported on
8228 your platform. However, if warnings are enabled, a warning of the
8229 L<C<printf>|warnings> warning class is issued on an unsupported
8230 conversion flag. Should you instead prefer an exception, do this:
8232 use warnings FATAL => "printf";
8234 If you would like to know about a version dependency before you
8235 start running the program, put something like this at its top:
8237 use 5.014; # for hh/j/t/z/ printf modifiers
8239 You can find out whether your Perl supports quads via L<Config>:
8242 if ($Config{use64bitint} eq "define"
8243 || $Config{longsize} >= 8) {
8244 print "Nice quads!\n";
8247 For floating-point conversions (C<e f g E F G>), numbers are usually assumed
8248 to be the default floating-point size on your platform (double or long double),
8249 but you can force "long double" with C<q>, C<L>, or C<ll> if your
8250 platform supports them. You can find out whether your Perl supports long
8251 doubles via L<Config>:
8254 print "long doubles\n" if $Config{d_longdbl} eq "define";
8256 You can find out whether Perl considers "long double" to be the default
8257 floating-point size to use on your platform via L<Config>:
8260 if ($Config{uselongdouble} eq "define") {
8261 print "long doubles by default\n";
8264 It can also be that long doubles and doubles are the same thing:
8267 ($Config{doublesize} == $Config{longdblsize}) &&
8268 print "doubles are long doubles\n";
8270 The size specifier C<V> has no effect for Perl code, but is supported for
8271 compatibility with XS code. It means "use the standard size for a Perl
8272 integer or floating-point number", which is the default.
8274 =item order of arguments
8276 Normally, L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST> takes the next unused
8277 argument as the value to
8278 format for each format specification. If the format specification
8279 uses C<*> to require additional arguments, these are consumed from
8280 the argument list in the order they appear in the format
8281 specification I<before> the value to format. Where an argument is
8282 specified by an explicit index, this does not affect the normal
8283 order for the arguments, even when the explicitly specified index
8284 would have been the next argument.
8288 printf "<%*.*s>", $a, $b, $c;
8290 uses C<$a> for the width, C<$b> for the precision, and C<$c>
8291 as the value to format; while:
8293 printf '<%*1$.*s>', $a, $b;
8295 would use C<$a> for the width and precision, and C<$b> as the
8298 Here are some more examples; be aware that when using an explicit
8299 index, the C<$> may need escaping:
8301 printf "%2\$d %d\n", 12, 34; # will print "34 12\n"
8302 printf "%2\$d %d %d\n", 12, 34; # will print "34 12 34\n"
8303 printf "%3\$d %d %d\n", 12, 34, 56; # will print "56 12 34\n"
8304 printf "%2\$*3\$d %d\n", 12, 34, 3; # will print " 34 12\n"
8305 printf "%*1\$.*f\n", 4, 5, 10; # will print "5.0000\n"
8309 If L<C<use locale>|locale> (including C<use locale ':not_characters'>)
8310 is in effect and L<C<POSIX::setlocale>|POSIX/C<setlocale>> has been
8312 the character used for the decimal separator in formatted floating-point
8313 numbers is affected by the C<LC_NUMERIC> locale. See L<perllocale>
8317 X<sqrt> X<root> X<square root>
8321 =for Pod::Functions square root function
8323 Return the positive square root of EXPR. If EXPR is omitted, uses
8324 L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>. Works only for non-negative operands unless you've
8325 loaded the L<C<Math::Complex>|Math::Complex> module.
8328 print sqrt(-4); # prints 2i
8331 X<srand> X<seed> X<randseed>
8335 =for Pod::Functions seed the random number generator
8337 Sets and returns the random number seed for the L<C<rand>|/rand EXPR>
8340 The point of the function is to "seed" the L<C<rand>|/rand EXPR>
8341 function so that L<C<rand>|/rand EXPR> can produce a different sequence
8342 each time you run your program. When called with a parameter,
8343 L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR> uses that for the seed; otherwise it
8344 (semi-)randomly chooses a seed. In either case, starting with Perl 5.14,
8345 it returns the seed. To signal that your code will work I<only> on Perls
8346 of a recent vintage:
8348 use 5.014; # so srand returns the seed
8350 If L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR> is not called explicitly, it is called
8351 implicitly without a parameter at the first use of the
8352 L<C<rand>|/rand EXPR> operator. However, there are a few situations
8353 where programs are likely to want to call L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR>. One
8354 is for generating predictable results, generally for testing or
8355 debugging. There, you use C<srand($seed)>, with the same C<$seed> each
8356 time. Another case is that you may want to call L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR>
8357 after a L<C<fork>|/fork> to avoid child processes sharing the same seed
8358 value as the parent (and consequently each other).
8360 Do B<not> call C<srand()> (i.e., without an argument) more than once per
8361 process. The internal state of the random number generator should
8362 contain more entropy than can be provided by any seed, so calling
8363 L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR> again actually I<loses> randomness.
8365 Most implementations of L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR> take an integer and will
8367 truncate decimal numbers. This means C<srand(42)> will usually
8368 produce the same results as C<srand(42.1)>. To be safe, always pass
8369 L<C<srand>|/srand EXPR> an integer.
8371 A typical use of the returned seed is for a test program which has too many
8372 combinations to test comprehensively in the time available to it each run. It
8373 can test a random subset each time, and should there be a failure, log the seed
8374 used for that run so that it can later be used to reproduce the same results.
8376 B<L<C<rand>|/rand EXPR> is not cryptographically secure. You should not rely
8377 on it in security-sensitive situations.> As of this writing, a
8378 number of third-party CPAN modules offer random number generators
8379 intended by their authors to be cryptographically secure,
8380 including: L<Data::Entropy>, L<Crypt::Random>, L<Math::Random::Secure>,
8381 and L<Math::TrulyRandom>.
8383 =item stat FILEHANDLE
8384 X<stat> X<file, status> X<ctime>
8388 =item stat DIRHANDLE
8392 =for Pod::Functions get a file's status information
8394 Returns a 13-element list giving the status info for a file, either
8395 the file opened via FILEHANDLE or DIRHANDLE, or named by EXPR. If EXPR is
8396 omitted, it stats L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> (not C<_>!). Returns the empty
8397 list if L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE> fails. Typically
8400 my ($dev,$ino,$mode,$nlink,$uid,$gid,$rdev,$size,
8401 $atime,$mtime,$ctime,$blksize,$blocks)
8404 Not all fields are supported on all filesystem types. Here are the
8405 meanings of the fields:
8407 0 dev device number of filesystem
8409 2 mode file mode (type and permissions)
8410 3 nlink number of (hard) links to the file
8411 4 uid numeric user ID of file's owner
8412 5 gid numeric group ID of file's owner
8413 6 rdev the device identifier (special files only)
8414 7 size total size of file, in bytes
8415 8 atime last access time in seconds since the epoch
8416 9 mtime last modify time in seconds since the epoch
8417 10 ctime inode change time in seconds since the epoch (*)
8418 11 blksize preferred I/O size in bytes for interacting with the
8419 file (may vary from file to file)
8420 12 blocks actual number of system-specific blocks allocated
8421 on disk (often, but not always, 512 bytes each)
8423 (The epoch was at 00:00 January 1, 1970 GMT.)
8425 (*) Not all fields are supported on all filesystem types. Notably, the
8426 ctime field is non-portable. In particular, you cannot expect it to be a
8427 "creation time"; see L<perlport/"Files and Filesystems"> for details.
8429 If L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE> is passed the special filehandle
8430 consisting of an underline, no stat is done, but the current contents of
8431 the stat structure from the last L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE>,
8432 L<C<lstat>|/lstat FILEHANDLE>, or filetest are returned. Example:
8434 if (-x $file && (($d) = stat(_)) && $d < 0) {
8435 print "$file is executable NFS file\n";
8438 (This works on machines only for which the device number is negative
8441 On some platforms inode numbers are of a type larger than perl knows how
8442 to handle as integer numerical values. If necessary, an inode number will
8443 be returned as a decimal string in order to preserve the entire value.
8444 If used in a numeric context, this will be converted to a floating-point
8445 numerical value, with rounding, a fate that is best avoided. Therefore,
8446 you should prefer to compare inode numbers using C<eq> rather than C<==>.
8447 C<eq> will work fine on inode numbers that are represented numerically,
8448 as well as those represented as strings.
8450 Because the mode contains both the file type and its permissions, you
8451 should mask off the file type portion and (s)printf using a C<"%o">
8452 if you want to see the real permissions.
8454 my $mode = (stat($filename))[2];
8455 printf "Permissions are %04o\n", $mode & 07777;
8457 In scalar context, L<C<stat>|/stat FILEHANDLE> returns a boolean value
8459 or failure, and, if successful, sets the information associated with
8460 the special filehandle C<_>.
8462 The L<File::stat> module provides a convenient, by-name access mechanism:
8465 my $sb = stat($filename);
8466 printf "File is %s, size is %s, perm %04o, mtime %s\n",
8467 $filename, $sb->size, $sb->mode & 07777,
8468 scalar localtime $sb->mtime;
8470 You can import symbolic mode constants (C<S_IF*>) and functions
8471 (C<S_IS*>) from the L<Fcntl> module:
8475 my $mode = (stat($filename))[2];
8477 my $user_rwx = ($mode & S_IRWXU) >> 6;
8478 my $group_read = ($mode & S_IRGRP) >> 3;
8479 my $other_execute = $mode & S_IXOTH;
8481 printf "Permissions are %04o\n", S_IMODE($mode), "\n";
8483 my $is_setuid = $mode & S_ISUID;
8484 my $is_directory = S_ISDIR($mode);
8486 You could write the last two using the C<-u> and C<-d> operators.
8487 Commonly available C<S_IF*> constants are:
8489 # Permissions: read, write, execute, for user, group, others.
8491 S_IRWXU S_IRUSR S_IWUSR S_IXUSR
8492 S_IRWXG S_IRGRP S_IWGRP S_IXGRP
8493 S_IRWXO S_IROTH S_IWOTH S_IXOTH
8495 # Setuid/Setgid/Stickiness/SaveText.
8496 # Note that the exact meaning of these is system-dependent.
8498 S_ISUID S_ISGID S_ISVTX S_ISTXT
8500 # File types. Not all are necessarily available on
8503 S_IFREG S_IFDIR S_IFLNK S_IFBLK S_IFCHR
8504 S_IFIFO S_IFSOCK S_IFWHT S_ENFMT
8506 # The following are compatibility aliases for S_IRUSR,
8507 # S_IWUSR, and S_IXUSR.
8509 S_IREAD S_IWRITE S_IEXEC
8511 and the C<S_IF*> functions are
8513 S_IMODE($mode) the part of $mode containing the permission
8514 bits and the setuid/setgid/sticky bits
8516 S_IFMT($mode) the part of $mode containing the file type
8517 which can be bit-anded with (for example)
8518 S_IFREG or with the following functions
8520 # The operators -f, -d, -l, -b, -c, -p, and -S.
8522 S_ISREG($mode) S_ISDIR($mode) S_ISLNK($mode)
8523 S_ISBLK($mode) S_ISCHR($mode) S_ISFIFO($mode) S_ISSOCK($mode)
8525 # No direct -X operator counterpart, but for the first one
8526 # the -g operator is often equivalent. The ENFMT stands for
8527 # record flocking enforcement, a platform-dependent feature.
8529 S_ISENFMT($mode) S_ISWHT($mode)
8531 See your native L<chmod(2)> and L<stat(2)> documentation for more details
8532 about the C<S_*> constants. To get status info for a symbolic link
8533 instead of the target file behind the link, use the
8534 L<C<lstat>|/lstat FILEHANDLE> function.
8536 Portability issues: L<perlport/stat>.
8541 =item state TYPE VARLIST
8543 =item state VARLIST : ATTRS
8545 =item state TYPE VARLIST : ATTRS
8547 =for Pod::Functions +state declare and assign a persistent lexical variable
8549 L<C<state>|/state VARLIST> declares a lexically scoped variable, just
8550 like L<C<my>|/my VARLIST>.
8551 However, those variables will never be reinitialized, contrary to
8552 lexical variables that are reinitialized each time their enclosing block
8554 See L<perlsub/"Persistent Private Variables"> for details.
8556 If more than one variable is listed, the list must be placed in
8557 parentheses. With a parenthesised list, L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> can be
8559 dummy placeholder. However, since initialization of state variables in
8560 such lists is currently not possible this would serve no purpose.
8562 L<C<state>|/state VARLIST> is available only if the
8563 L<C<"state"> feature|feature/The 'state' feature> is enabled or if it is
8564 prefixed with C<CORE::>. The
8565 L<C<"state"> feature|feature/The 'state' feature> is enabled
8566 automatically with a C<use v5.10> (or higher) declaration in the current
8575 =for Pod::Functions no-op, formerly optimized input data for repeated searches
8577 At this time, C<study> does nothing. This may change in the future.
8579 Prior to Perl version 5.16, it would create an inverted index of all characters
8580 that occurred in the given SCALAR (or L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> if unspecified). When
8581 matching a pattern, the rarest character from the pattern would be looked up in
8582 this index. Rarity was based on some static frequency tables constructed from
8583 some C programs and English text.
8586 =item sub NAME BLOCK
8589 =item sub NAME (PROTO) BLOCK
8591 =item sub NAME : ATTRS BLOCK
8593 =item sub NAME (PROTO) : ATTRS BLOCK
8595 =for Pod::Functions declare a subroutine, possibly anonymously
8597 This is subroutine definition, not a real function I<per se>. Without a
8598 BLOCK it's just a forward declaration. Without a NAME, it's an anonymous
8599 function declaration, so does return a value: the CODE ref of the closure
8602 See L<perlsub> and L<perlref> for details about subroutines and
8603 references; see L<attributes> and L<Attribute::Handlers> for more
8604 information about attributes.
8609 =for Pod::Functions +current_sub the current subroutine, or C<undef> if not in a subroutine
8611 A special token that returns a reference to the current subroutine, or
8612 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> outside of a subroutine.
8614 The behaviour of L<C<__SUB__>|/__SUB__> within a regex code block (such
8615 as C</(?{...})/>) is subject to change.
8617 This token is only available under C<use v5.16> or the
8618 L<C<"current_sub"> feature|feature/The 'current_sub' feature>.
8621 =item substr EXPR,OFFSET,LENGTH,REPLACEMENT
8622 X<substr> X<substring> X<mid> X<left> X<right>
8624 =item substr EXPR,OFFSET,LENGTH
8626 =item substr EXPR,OFFSET
8628 =for Pod::Functions get or alter a portion of a string
8630 Extracts a substring out of EXPR and returns it. First character is at
8631 offset zero. If OFFSET is negative, starts
8632 that far back from the end of the string. If LENGTH is omitted, returns
8633 everything through the end of the string. If LENGTH is negative, leaves that
8634 many characters off the end of the string.
8636 my $s = "The black cat climbed the green tree";
8637 my $color = substr $s, 4, 5; # black
8638 my $middle = substr $s, 4, -11; # black cat climbed the
8639 my $end = substr $s, 14; # climbed the green tree
8640 my $tail = substr $s, -4; # tree
8641 my $z = substr $s, -4, 2; # tr
8643 You can use the L<C<substr>|/substr EXPR,OFFSET,LENGTH,REPLACEMENT>
8644 function as an lvalue, in which case EXPR
8645 must itself be an lvalue. If you assign something shorter than LENGTH,
8646 the string will shrink, and if you assign something longer than LENGTH,
8647 the string will grow to accommodate it. To keep the string the same
8648 length, you may need to pad or chop your value using
8649 L<C<sprintf>|/sprintf FORMAT, LIST>.
8651 If OFFSET and LENGTH specify a substring that is partly outside the
8652 string, only the part within the string is returned. If the substring
8653 is beyond either end of the string,
8654 L<C<substr>|/substr EXPR,OFFSET,LENGTH,REPLACEMENT> returns the undefined
8655 value and produces a warning. When used as an lvalue, specifying a
8656 substring that is entirely outside the string raises an exception.
8657 Here's an example showing the behavior for boundary cases:
8660 substr($name, 4) = 'dy'; # $name is now 'freddy'
8661 my $null = substr $name, 6, 2; # returns "" (no warning)
8662 my $oops = substr $name, 7; # returns undef, with warning
8663 substr($name, 7) = 'gap'; # raises an exception
8665 An alternative to using
8666 L<C<substr>|/substr EXPR,OFFSET,LENGTH,REPLACEMENT> as an lvalue is to
8668 replacement string as the 4th argument. This allows you to replace
8669 parts of the EXPR and return what was there before in one operation,
8670 just as you can with
8671 L<C<splice>|/splice ARRAY,OFFSET,LENGTH,LIST>.
8673 my $s = "The black cat climbed the green tree";
8674 my $z = substr $s, 14, 7, "jumped from"; # climbed
8675 # $s is now "The black cat jumped from the green tree"
8677 Note that the lvalue returned by the three-argument version of
8678 L<C<substr>|/substr EXPR,OFFSET,LENGTH,REPLACEMENT> acts as
8679 a 'magic bullet'; each time it is assigned to, it remembers which part
8680 of the original string is being modified; for example:
8683 for (substr($x,1,2)) {
8684 $_ = 'a'; print $x,"\n"; # prints 1a4
8685 $_ = 'xyz'; print $x,"\n"; # prints 1xyz4
8687 $_ = 'pq'; print $x,"\n"; # prints 5pq9
8690 With negative offsets, it remembers its position from the end of the string
8691 when the target string is modified:
8694 for (substr($x, -3, 2)) {
8695 $_ = 'a'; print $x,"\n"; # prints 1a4, as above
8697 print $_,"\n"; # prints f
8700 Prior to Perl version 5.10, the result of using an lvalue multiple times was
8701 unspecified. Prior to 5.16, the result with negative offsets was
8704 =item symlink OLDFILE,NEWFILE
8705 X<symlink> X<link> X<symbolic link> X<link, symbolic>
8707 =for Pod::Functions create a symbolic link to a file
8709 Creates a new filename symbolically linked to the old filename.
8710 Returns C<1> for success, C<0> otherwise. On systems that don't support
8711 symbolic links, raises an exception. To check for that,
8714 my $symlink_exists = eval { symlink("",""); 1 };
8716 Portability issues: L<perlport/symlink>.
8718 =item syscall NUMBER, LIST
8719 X<syscall> X<system call>
8721 =for Pod::Functions execute an arbitrary system call
8723 Calls the system call specified as the first element of the list,
8724 passing the remaining elements as arguments to the system call. If
8725 unimplemented, raises an exception. The arguments are interpreted
8726 as follows: if a given argument is numeric, the argument is passed as
8727 an int. If not, the pointer to the string value is passed. You are
8728 responsible to make sure a string is pre-extended long enough to
8729 receive any result that might be written into a string. You can't use a
8730 string literal (or other read-only string) as an argument to
8731 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST> because Perl has to assume that any
8732 string pointer might be written through. If your
8733 integer arguments are not literals and have never been interpreted in a
8734 numeric context, you may need to add C<0> to them to force them to look
8735 like numbers. This emulates the
8736 L<C<syswrite>|/syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET> function (or
8739 require 'syscall.ph'; # may need to run h2ph
8740 my $s = "hi there\n";
8741 syscall(SYS_write(), fileno(STDOUT), $s, length $s);
8743 Note that Perl supports passing of up to only 14 arguments to your syscall,
8744 which in practice should (usually) suffice.
8746 Syscall returns whatever value returned by the system call it calls.
8747 If the system call fails, L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST> returns
8748 C<-1> and sets L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> (errno).
8749 Note that some system calls I<can> legitimately return C<-1>. The proper
8750 way to handle such calls is to assign C<$! = 0> before the call, then
8751 check the value of L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> if
8752 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST> returns C<-1>.
8754 There's a problem with C<syscall(SYS_pipe())>: it returns the file
8755 number of the read end of the pipe it creates, but there is no way
8756 to retrieve the file number of the other end. You can avoid this
8757 problem by using L<C<pipe>|/pipe READHANDLE,WRITEHANDLE> instead.
8759 Portability issues: L<perlport/syscall>.
8761 =item sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE
8764 =item sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE,PERMS
8766 =for Pod::Functions +5.002 open a file, pipe, or descriptor
8768 Opens the file whose filename is given by FILENAME, and associates it with
8769 FILEHANDLE. If FILEHANDLE is an expression, its value is used as the real
8770 filehandle wanted; an undefined scalar will be suitably autovivified. This
8771 function calls the underlying operating system's L<open(2)> function with the
8772 parameters FILENAME, MODE, and PERMS.
8774 Returns true on success and L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> otherwise.
8776 L<PerlIO> layers will be applied to the handle the same way they would in an
8777 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> call that does not specify layers. That is,
8778 the current value of L<C<${^OPEN}>|perlvar/${^OPEN}> as set by the L<open>
8779 pragma in a lexical scope, or the C<-C> commandline option or C<PERL_UNICODE>
8780 environment variable in the main program scope, falling back to the platform
8781 defaults as described in L<PerlIO/Defaults and how to override them>. If you
8782 want to remove any layers that may transform the byte stream, use
8783 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER> after opening it.
8785 The possible values and flag bits of the MODE parameter are
8786 system-dependent; they are available via the standard module
8787 L<C<Fcntl>|Fcntl>. See the documentation of your operating system's
8788 L<open(2)> syscall to see
8789 which values and flag bits are available. You may combine several flags
8790 using the C<|>-operator.
8792 Some of the most common values are C<O_RDONLY> for opening the file in
8793 read-only mode, C<O_WRONLY> for opening the file in write-only mode,
8794 and C<O_RDWR> for opening the file in read-write mode.
8795 X<O_RDONLY> X<O_RDWR> X<O_WRONLY>
8797 For historical reasons, some values work on almost every system
8798 supported by Perl: 0 means read-only, 1 means write-only, and 2
8799 means read/write. We know that these values do I<not> work under
8800 OS/390 and on the Macintosh; you probably don't want to
8801 use them in new code.
8803 If the file named by FILENAME does not exist and the
8804 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> call creates
8805 it (typically because MODE includes the C<O_CREAT> flag), then the value of
8806 PERMS specifies the permissions of the newly created file. If you omit
8807 the PERMS argument to L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE>,
8808 Perl uses the octal value C<0666>.
8809 These permission values need to be in octal, and are modified by your
8810 process's current L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR>.
8813 In many systems the C<O_EXCL> flag is available for opening files in
8814 exclusive mode. This is B<not> locking: exclusiveness means here that
8815 if the file already exists,
8816 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE> fails. C<O_EXCL> may
8818 on network filesystems, and has no effect unless the C<O_CREAT> flag
8819 is set as well. Setting C<O_CREAT|O_EXCL> prevents the file from
8820 being opened if it is a symbolic link. It does not protect against
8821 symbolic links in the file's path.
8824 Sometimes you may want to truncate an already-existing file. This
8825 can be done using the C<O_TRUNC> flag. The behavior of
8826 C<O_TRUNC> with C<O_RDONLY> is undefined.
8829 You should seldom if ever use C<0644> as argument to
8830 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE>, because
8831 that takes away the user's option to have a more permissive umask.
8832 Better to omit it. See L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR> for more on this.
8834 This function has no direct relation to the usage of
8835 L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
8836 L<C<syswrite>|/syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
8837 or L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>. A handle opened with
8838 this function can be used with buffered IO just as one opened with
8839 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR> can be used with unbuffered IO.
8841 Note that under Perls older than 5.8.0,
8842 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE> depends on the
8843 L<fdopen(3)> C library function. On many Unix systems, L<fdopen(3)> is known
8844 to fail when file descriptors exceed a certain value, typically 255. If
8845 you need more file descriptors than that, consider using the
8846 L<C<POSIX::open>|POSIX/C<open>> function. For Perls 5.8.0 and later,
8847 PerlIO is (most often) the default.
8849 See L<perlopentut> for a kinder, gentler explanation of opening files.
8851 Portability issues: L<perlport/sysopen>.
8853 =item sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET
8856 =item sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH
8858 =for Pod::Functions fixed-length unbuffered input from a filehandle
8860 Attempts to read LENGTH bytes of data into variable SCALAR from the
8861 specified FILEHANDLE, using L<read(2)>. It bypasses any L<PerlIO> layers
8862 including buffered IO (but is affected by the presence of the C<:utf8>
8863 layer as described later), so mixing this with other kinds of reads,
8864 L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST>, L<C<write>|/write FILEHANDLE>,
8865 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
8866 L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE>, or L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE> can cause
8867 confusion because the
8868 C<:perlio> or C<:crlf> layers usually buffer data. Returns the number of
8869 bytes actually read, C<0> at end of file, or undef if there was an
8870 error (in the latter case L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> is also set). SCALAR will
8872 shrunk so that the last byte actually read is the last byte of the
8873 scalar after the read.
8875 An OFFSET may be specified to place the read data at some place in the
8876 string other than the beginning. A negative OFFSET specifies
8877 placement at that many characters counting backwards from the end of
8878 the string. A positive OFFSET greater than the length of SCALAR
8879 results in the string being padded to the required size with C<"\0">
8880 bytes before the result of the read is appended.
8882 There is no syseof() function, which is ok, since
8883 L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE> doesn't work well on device files (like ttys)
8884 anyway. Use L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET> and
8885 check for a return value of 0 to decide whether you're done.
8887 Note that if the filehandle has been marked as C<:utf8>, C<sysread> will
8888 throw an exception. The C<:encoding(...)> layer implicitly
8889 introduces the C<:utf8> layer. See
8890 L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>,
8891 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>, and the L<open> pragma.
8893 =item sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE
8896 =for Pod::Functions +5.004 position I/O pointer on handle used with sysread and syswrite
8898 Sets FILEHANDLE's system position I<in bytes> using L<lseek(2)>. FILEHANDLE may
8899 be an expression whose value gives the name of the filehandle. The values
8900 for WHENCE are C<0> to set the new position to POSITION; C<1> to set it
8901 to the current position plus POSITION; and C<2> to set it to EOF plus
8902 POSITION, typically negative.
8904 Note the emphasis on bytes: even if the filehandle has been set to operate
8905 on characters (for example using the C<:encoding(UTF-8)> I/O layer), the
8906 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
8907 L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE>, and
8908 L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>
8909 family of functions use byte offsets, not character offsets,
8910 because seeking to a character offset would be very slow in a UTF-8 file.
8912 L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE> bypasses normal
8913 buffered IO, so mixing it with reads other than
8914 L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET> (for example
8915 L<C<readline>|/readline EXPR> or
8916 L<C<read>|/read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>),
8917 L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST>, L<C<write>|/write FILEHANDLE>,
8918 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
8919 L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE>, or L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE> may cause
8922 For WHENCE, you may also use the constants C<SEEK_SET>, C<SEEK_CUR>,
8923 and C<SEEK_END> (start of the file, current position, end of the file)
8924 from the L<Fcntl> module. Use of the constants is also more portable
8925 than relying on 0, 1, and 2. For example to define a "systell" function:
8927 use Fcntl 'SEEK_CUR';
8928 sub systell { sysseek($_[0], 0, SEEK_CUR) }
8930 Returns the new position, or the undefined value on failure. A position
8931 of zero is returned as the string C<"0 but true">; thus
8932 L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE> returns
8933 true on success and false on failure, yet you can still easily determine
8939 =item system PROGRAM LIST
8941 =for Pod::Functions run a separate program
8943 Does exactly the same thing as L<C<exec>|/exec LIST>, except that a fork is
8944 done first and the parent process waits for the child process to
8945 exit. Note that argument processing varies depending on the
8946 number of arguments. If there is more than one argument in LIST,
8947 or if LIST is an array with more than one value, starts the program
8948 given by the first element of the list with arguments given by the
8949 rest of the list. If there is only one scalar argument, the argument
8950 is checked for shell metacharacters, and if there are any, the
8951 entire argument is passed to the system's command shell for parsing
8952 (this is C</bin/sh -c> on Unix platforms, but varies on other
8953 platforms). If there are no shell metacharacters in the argument,
8954 it is split into words and passed directly to C<execvp>, which is
8955 more efficient. On Windows, only the C<system PROGRAM LIST> syntax will
8956 reliably avoid using the shell; C<system LIST>, even with more than one
8957 element, will fall back to the shell if the first spawn fails.
8959 Perl will attempt to flush all files opened for
8960 output before any operation that may do a fork, but this may not be
8961 supported on some platforms (see L<perlport>). To be safe, you may need
8962 to set L<C<$E<verbar>>|perlvar/$E<verbar>> (C<$AUTOFLUSH> in L<English>)
8963 or call the C<autoflush> method of L<C<IO::Handle>|IO::Handle/METHODS>
8964 on any open handles.
8966 The return value is the exit status of the program as returned by the
8967 L<C<wait>|/wait> call. To get the actual exit value, shift right by
8968 eight (see below). See also L<C<exec>|/exec LIST>. This is I<not> what
8969 you want to use to capture the output from a command; for that you
8970 should use merely backticks or
8971 L<C<qxE<sol>E<sol>>|/qxE<sol>STRINGE<sol>>, as described in
8972 L<perlop/"`STRING`">. Return value of -1 indicates a failure to start
8973 the program or an error of the L<wait(2)> system call (inspect
8974 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> for the reason).
8976 If you'd like to make L<C<system>|/system LIST> (and many other bits of
8977 Perl) die on error, have a look at the L<autodie> pragma.
8979 Like L<C<exec>|/exec LIST>, L<C<system>|/system LIST> allows you to lie
8980 to a program about its name if you use the C<system PROGRAM LIST>
8981 syntax. Again, see L<C<exec>|/exec LIST>.
8983 Since C<SIGINT> and C<SIGQUIT> are ignored during the execution of
8984 L<C<system>|/system LIST>, if you expect your program to terminate on
8985 receipt of these signals you will need to arrange to do so yourself
8986 based on the return value.
8988 my @args = ("command", "arg1", "arg2");
8990 or die "system @args failed: $?";
8992 If you'd like to manually inspect L<C<system>|/system LIST>'s failure,
8993 you can check all possible failure modes by inspecting
8994 L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> like this:
8997 print "failed to execute: $!\n";
9000 printf "child died with signal %d, %s coredump\n",
9001 ($? & 127), ($? & 128) ? 'with' : 'without';
9004 printf "child exited with value %d\n", $? >> 8;
9007 Alternatively, you may inspect the value of
9008 L<C<${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>|perlvar/${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}> with the
9009 L<C<W*()>|POSIX/C<WIFEXITED>> calls from the L<POSIX> module.
9011 When L<C<system>|/system LIST>'s arguments are executed indirectly by
9012 the shell, results and return codes are subject to its quirks.
9013 See L<perlop/"`STRING`"> and L<C<exec>|/exec LIST> for details.
9015 Since L<C<system>|/system LIST> does a L<C<fork>|/fork> and
9016 L<C<wait>|/wait> it may affect a C<SIGCHLD> handler. See L<perlipc> for
9019 Portability issues: L<perlport/system>.
9021 =item syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET
9024 =item syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH
9026 =item syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR
9028 =for Pod::Functions fixed-length unbuffered output to a filehandle
9030 Attempts to write LENGTH bytes of data from variable SCALAR to the
9031 specified FILEHANDLE, using L<write(2)>. If LENGTH is
9032 not specified, writes whole SCALAR. It bypasses any L<PerlIO> layers
9033 including buffered IO (but is affected by the presence of the C<:utf8>
9034 layer as described later), so
9035 mixing this with reads (other than C<sysread)>),
9036 L<C<print>|/print FILEHANDLE LIST>, L<C<write>|/write FILEHANDLE>,
9037 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
9038 L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE>, or L<C<eof>|/eof FILEHANDLE> may cause
9039 confusion because the C<:perlio> and C<:crlf> layers usually buffer data.
9040 Returns the number of bytes actually written, or L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>
9041 if there was an error (in this case the errno variable
9042 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> is also set). If the LENGTH is greater than the
9043 data available in the SCALAR after the OFFSET, only as much data as is
9044 available will be written.
9046 An OFFSET may be specified to write the data from some part of the
9047 string other than the beginning. A negative OFFSET specifies writing
9048 that many characters counting backwards from the end of the string.
9049 If SCALAR is of length zero, you can only use an OFFSET of 0.
9051 B<WARNING>: If the filehandle is marked C<:utf8>, C<syswrite> will raise an exception.
9052 The C<:encoding(...)> layer implicitly introduces the C<:utf8> layer.
9053 Alternately, if the handle is not marked with an encoding but you
9054 attempt to write characters with code points over 255, raises an exception.
9055 See L<C<binmode>|/binmode FILEHANDLE, LAYER>,
9056 L<C<open>|/open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR>, and the L<open> pragma.
9058 =item tell FILEHANDLE
9063 =for Pod::Functions get current seekpointer on a filehandle
9065 Returns the current position I<in bytes> for FILEHANDLE, or -1 on
9066 error. FILEHANDLE may be an expression whose value gives the name of
9067 the actual filehandle. If FILEHANDLE is omitted, assumes the file
9070 Note the emphasis on bytes: even if the filehandle has been set to operate
9071 on characters (for example using the C<:encoding(UTF-8)> I/O layer), the
9072 L<C<seek>|/seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>,
9073 L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE>, and
9074 L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>
9075 family of functions use byte offsets, not character offsets,
9076 because seeking to a character offset would be very slow in a UTF-8 file.
9078 The return value of L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE> for the standard streams
9079 like the STDIN depends on the operating system: it may return -1 or
9080 something else. L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE> on pipes, fifos, and
9081 sockets usually returns -1.
9083 There is no C<systell> function. Use
9084 L<C<sysseek($fh, 0, 1)>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE> for that.
9086 Do not use L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE> (or other buffered I/O
9087 operations) on a filehandle that has been manipulated by
9088 L<C<sysread>|/sysread FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>,
9089 L<C<syswrite>|/syswrite FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>, or
9090 L<C<sysseek>|/sysseek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE>. Those functions
9091 ignore the buffering, while L<C<tell>|/tell FILEHANDLE> does not.
9093 =item telldir DIRHANDLE
9096 =for Pod::Functions get current seekpointer on a directory handle
9098 Returns the current position of the L<C<readdir>|/readdir DIRHANDLE>
9099 routines on DIRHANDLE. Value may be given to
9100 L<C<seekdir>|/seekdir DIRHANDLE,POS> to access a particular location in
9101 a directory. L<C<telldir>|/telldir DIRHANDLE> has the same caveats
9102 about possible directory compaction as the corresponding system library
9105 =item tie VARIABLE,CLASSNAME,LIST
9108 =for Pod::Functions +5.002 bind a variable to an object class
9110 This function binds a variable to a package class that will provide the
9111 implementation for the variable. VARIABLE is the name of the variable
9112 to be enchanted. CLASSNAME is the name of a class implementing objects
9113 of correct type. Any additional arguments are passed to the
9114 appropriate constructor
9115 method of the class (meaning C<TIESCALAR>, C<TIEHANDLE>, C<TIEARRAY>,
9116 or C<TIEHASH>). Typically these are arguments such as might be passed
9117 to the L<dbm_open(3)> function of C. The object returned by the
9118 constructor is also returned by the
9119 L<C<tie>|/tie VARIABLE,CLASSNAME,LIST> function, which would be useful
9120 if you want to access other methods in CLASSNAME.
9122 Note that functions such as L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> and
9123 L<C<values>|/values HASH> may return huge lists when used on large
9124 objects, like DBM files. You may prefer to use the L<C<each>|/each
9125 HASH> function to iterate over such. Example:
9127 # print out history file offsets
9129 tie(my %HIST, 'NDBM_File', '/usr/lib/news/history', 1, 0);
9130 while (my ($key,$val) = each %HIST) {
9131 print $key, ' = ', unpack('L', $val), "\n";
9134 A class implementing a hash should have the following methods:
9136 TIEHASH classname, LIST
9138 STORE this, key, value
9143 NEXTKEY this, lastkey
9148 A class implementing an ordinary array should have the following methods:
9150 TIEARRAY classname, LIST
9152 STORE this, key, value
9154 STORESIZE this, count
9160 SPLICE this, offset, length, LIST
9167 A class implementing a filehandle should have the following methods:
9169 TIEHANDLE classname, LIST
9170 READ this, scalar, length, offset
9173 WRITE this, scalar, length, offset
9175 PRINTF this, format, LIST
9179 SEEK this, position, whence
9181 OPEN this, mode, LIST
9186 A class implementing a scalar should have the following methods:
9188 TIESCALAR classname, LIST
9194 Not all methods indicated above need be implemented. See L<perltie>,
9195 L<Tie::Hash>, L<Tie::Array>, L<Tie::Scalar>, and L<Tie::Handle>.
9197 Unlike L<C<dbmopen>|/dbmopen HASH,DBNAME,MASK>, the
9198 L<C<tie>|/tie VARIABLE,CLASSNAME,LIST> function will not
9199 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> or L<C<require>|/require VERSION> a
9200 module for you; you need to do that explicitly yourself. See L<DB_File>
9201 or the L<Config> module for interesting
9202 L<C<tie>|/tie VARIABLE,CLASSNAME,LIST> implementations.
9204 For further details see L<perltie>, L<C<tied>|/tied VARIABLE>.
9209 =for Pod::Functions get a reference to the object underlying a tied variable
9211 Returns a reference to the object underlying VARIABLE (the same value
9212 that was originally returned by the
9213 L<C<tie>|/tie VARIABLE,CLASSNAME,LIST> call that bound the variable
9214 to a package.) Returns the undefined value if VARIABLE isn't tied to a
9220 =for Pod::Functions return number of seconds since 1970
9222 Returns the number of non-leap seconds since whatever time the system
9223 considers to be the epoch, suitable for feeding to
9224 L<C<gmtime>|/gmtime EXPR> and L<C<localtime>|/localtime EXPR>. On most
9225 systems the epoch is 00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970;
9226 a prominent exception being Mac OS Classic which uses 00:00:00, January 1,
9227 1904 in the current local time zone for its epoch.
9229 For measuring time in better granularity than one second, use the
9230 L<Time::HiRes> module from Perl 5.8 onwards (or from CPAN before then), or,
9231 if you have L<gettimeofday(2)>, you may be able to use the
9232 L<C<syscall>|/syscall NUMBER, LIST> interface of Perl. See L<perlfaq8>
9235 For date and time processing look at the many related modules on CPAN.
9236 For a comprehensive date and time representation look at the
9242 =for Pod::Functions return elapsed time for self and child processes
9244 Returns a four-element list giving the user and system times in
9245 seconds for this process and any exited children of this process.
9247 my ($user,$system,$cuser,$csystem) = times;
9249 In scalar context, L<C<times>|/times> returns C<$user>.
9251 Children's times are only included for terminated children.
9253 Portability issues: L<perlport/times>.
9257 =for Pod::Functions transliterate a string
9259 The transliteration operator. Same as
9260 L<C<yE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>|/yE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>. See
9261 L<perlop/"Quote-Like Operators">.
9263 =item truncate FILEHANDLE,LENGTH
9266 =item truncate EXPR,LENGTH
9268 =for Pod::Functions shorten a file
9270 Truncates the file opened on FILEHANDLE, or named by EXPR, to the
9271 specified length. Raises an exception if truncate isn't implemented
9272 on your system. Returns true if successful, L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> on
9275 The behavior is undefined if LENGTH is greater than the length of the
9278 The position in the file of FILEHANDLE is left unchanged. You may want to
9279 call L<seek|/"seek FILEHANDLE,POSITION,WHENCE"> before writing to the
9282 Portability issues: L<perlport/truncate>.
9285 X<uc> X<uppercase> X<toupper>
9289 =for Pod::Functions return upper-case version of a string
9291 Returns an uppercased version of EXPR. This is the internal function
9292 implementing the C<\U> escape in double-quoted strings.
9293 It does not attempt to do titlecase mapping on initial letters. See
9294 L<C<ucfirst>|/ucfirst EXPR> for that.
9296 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
9298 This function behaves the same way under various pragmas, such as in a locale,
9299 as L<C<lc>|/lc EXPR> does.
9302 X<ucfirst> X<uppercase>
9306 =for Pod::Functions return a string with just the next letter in upper case
9308 Returns the value of EXPR with the first character in uppercase
9309 (titlecase in Unicode). This is the internal function implementing
9310 the C<\u> escape in double-quoted strings.
9312 If EXPR is omitted, uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
9314 This function behaves the same way under various pragmas, such as in a locale,
9315 as L<C<lc>|/lc EXPR> does.
9322 =for Pod::Functions set file creation mode mask
9324 Sets the umask for the process to EXPR and returns the previous value.
9325 If EXPR is omitted, merely returns the current umask.
9327 The Unix permission C<rwxr-x---> is represented as three sets of three
9328 bits, or three octal digits: C<0750> (the leading 0 indicates octal
9329 and isn't one of the digits). The L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR> value is such
9330 a number representing disabled permissions bits. The permission (or
9331 "mode") values you pass L<C<mkdir>|/mkdir FILENAME,MODE> or
9332 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE> are modified by your
9333 umask, so even if you tell
9334 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE> to create a file with
9335 permissions C<0777>, if your umask is C<0022>, then the file will
9336 actually be created with permissions C<0755>. If your
9337 L<C<umask>|/umask EXPR> were C<0027> (group can't write; others can't
9338 read, write, or execute), then passing
9339 L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE> C<0666> would create a
9340 file with mode C<0640> (because C<0666 &~ 027> is C<0640>).
9342 Here's some advice: supply a creation mode of C<0666> for regular
9343 files (in L<C<sysopen>|/sysopen FILEHANDLE,FILENAME,MODE>) and one of
9344 C<0777> for directories (in L<C<mkdir>|/mkdir FILENAME,MODE>) and
9345 executable files. This gives users the freedom of
9346 choice: if they want protected files, they might choose process umasks
9347 of C<022>, C<027>, or even the particularly antisocial mask of C<077>.
9348 Programs should rarely if ever make policy decisions better left to
9349 the user. The exception to this is when writing files that should be
9350 kept private: mail files, web browser cookies, F<.rhosts> files, and
9353 If L<umask(2)> is not implemented on your system and you are trying to
9354 restrict access for I<yourself> (i.e., C<< (EXPR & 0700) > 0 >>),
9355 raises an exception. If L<umask(2)> is not implemented and you are
9356 not trying to restrict access for yourself, returns
9357 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>.
9359 Remember that a umask is a number, usually given in octal; it is I<not> a
9360 string of octal digits. See also L<C<oct>|/oct EXPR>, if all you have
9363 Portability issues: L<perlport/umask>.
9366 X<undef> X<undefine>
9370 =for Pod::Functions remove a variable or function definition
9372 Undefines the value of EXPR, which must be an lvalue. Use only on a
9373 scalar value, an array (using C<@>), a hash (using C<%>), a subroutine
9374 (using C<&>), or a typeglob (using C<*>). Saying C<undef $hash{$key}>
9375 will probably not do what you expect on most predefined variables or
9376 DBM list values, so don't do that; see L<C<delete>|/delete EXPR>.
9377 Always returns the undefined value.
9378 You can omit the EXPR, in which case nothing is
9379 undefined, but you still get an undefined value that you could, for
9380 instance, return from a subroutine, assign to a variable, or pass as a
9381 parameter. Examples:
9384 undef $bar{'blurfl'}; # Compare to: delete $bar{'blurfl'};
9388 undef *xyz; # destroys $xyz, @xyz, %xyz, &xyz, etc.
9389 return (wantarray ? (undef, $errmsg) : undef) if $they_blew_it;
9390 select undef, undef, undef, 0.25;
9391 my ($x, $y, undef, $z) = foo(); # Ignore third value returned
9393 Note that this is a unary operator, not a list operator.
9396 X<unlink> X<delete> X<remove> X<rm> X<del>
9400 =for Pod::Functions remove one link to a file
9402 Deletes a list of files. On success, it returns the number of files
9403 it successfully deleted. On failure, it returns false and sets
9404 L<C<$!>|perlvar/$!> (errno):
9406 my $unlinked = unlink 'a', 'b', 'c';
9408 unlink glob "*.bak";
9410 On error, L<C<unlink>|/unlink LIST> will not tell you which files it
9412 If you want to know which files you could not remove, try them one
9415 foreach my $file ( @goners ) {
9416 unlink $file or warn "Could not unlink $file: $!";
9419 Note: L<C<unlink>|/unlink LIST> will not attempt to delete directories
9421 superuser and the B<-U> flag is supplied to Perl. Even if these
9422 conditions are met, be warned that unlinking a directory can inflict
9423 damage on your filesystem. Finally, using L<C<unlink>|/unlink LIST> on
9424 directories is not supported on many operating systems. Use
9425 L<C<rmdir>|/rmdir FILENAME> instead.
9427 If LIST is omitted, L<C<unlink>|/unlink LIST> uses L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
9429 =item unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR
9432 =item unpack TEMPLATE
9434 =for Pod::Functions convert binary structure into normal perl variables
9436 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR> does the reverse of
9437 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>: it takes a string
9438 and expands it out into a list of values.
9439 (In scalar context, it returns merely the first value produced.)
9441 If EXPR is omitted, unpacks the L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> string.
9442 See L<perlpacktut> for an introduction to this function.
9444 The string is broken into chunks described by the TEMPLATE. Each chunk
9445 is converted separately to a value. Typically, either the string is a result
9446 of L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>, or the characters of the string
9447 represent a C structure of some kind.
9449 The TEMPLATE has the same format as in the
9450 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST> function.
9451 Here's a subroutine that does substring:
9454 my ($what, $where, $howmuch) = @_;
9455 unpack("x$where a$howmuch", $what);
9460 sub ordinal { unpack("W",$_[0]); } # same as ord()
9462 In addition to fields allowed in L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>, you may
9463 prefix a field with a %<number> to indicate that
9464 you want a <number>-bit checksum of the items instead of the items
9465 themselves. Default is a 16-bit checksum. The checksum is calculated by
9466 summing numeric values of expanded values (for string fields the sum of
9467 C<ord($char)> is taken; for bit fields the sum of zeroes and ones).
9469 For example, the following
9470 computes the same number as the System V sum program:
9474 unpack("%32W*", readline) % 65535;
9477 The following efficiently counts the number of set bits in a bit vector:
9479 my $setbits = unpack("%32b*", $selectmask);
9481 The C<p> and C<P> formats should be used with care. Since Perl
9482 has no way of checking whether the value passed to
9483 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR>
9484 corresponds to a valid memory location, passing a pointer value that's
9485 not known to be valid is likely to have disastrous consequences.
9487 If there are more pack codes or if the repeat count of a field or a group
9488 is larger than what the remainder of the input string allows, the result
9489 is not well defined: the repeat count may be decreased, or
9490 L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR> may produce empty strings or zeros,
9491 or it may raise an exception.
9492 If the input string is longer than one described by the TEMPLATE,
9493 the remainder of that input string is ignored.
9495 See L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST> for more examples and notes.
9497 =item unshift ARRAY,LIST
9500 =for Pod::Functions prepend more elements to the beginning of a list
9502 Does the opposite of a L<C<shift>|/shift ARRAY>. Or the opposite of a
9503 L<C<push>|/push ARRAY,LIST>,
9504 depending on how you look at it. Prepends list to the front of the
9505 array and returns the new number of elements in the array.
9507 unshift(@ARGV, '-e') unless $ARGV[0] =~ /^-/;
9509 Note the LIST is prepended whole, not one element at a time, so the
9510 prepended elements stay in the same order. Use
9511 L<C<reverse>|/reverse LIST> to do the reverse.
9513 Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed
9514 L<C<unshift>|/unshift ARRAY,LIST> to take
9515 a scalar expression. This experiment has been deemed unsuccessful, and was
9516 removed as of Perl 5.24.
9518 =item untie VARIABLE
9521 =for Pod::Functions break a tie binding to a variable
9523 Breaks the binding between a variable and a package.
9524 (See L<tie|/tie VARIABLE,CLASSNAME,LIST>.)
9525 Has no effect if the variable is not tied.
9527 =item use Module VERSION LIST
9528 X<use> X<module> X<import>
9530 =item use Module VERSION
9532 =item use Module LIST
9538 =for Pod::Functions load in a module at compile time and import its namespace
9540 Imports some semantics into the current package from the named module,
9541 generally by aliasing certain subroutine or variable names into your
9542 package. It is exactly equivalent to
9544 BEGIN { require Module; Module->import( LIST ); }
9546 except that Module I<must> be a bareword.
9547 The importation can be made conditional by using the L<if> module.
9549 In the C<use VERSION> form, VERSION may be either a v-string such as
9550 v5.24.1, which will be compared to L<C<$^V>|perlvar/$^V> (aka
9551 $PERL_VERSION), or a numeric argument of the form 5.024001, which will
9552 be compared to L<C<$]>|perlvar/$]>. An exception is raised if VERSION
9553 is greater than the version of the current Perl interpreter; Perl will
9554 not attempt to parse the rest of the file. Compare with
9555 L<C<require>|/require VERSION>, which can do a similar check at run
9556 time. Symmetrically, C<no VERSION> allows you to specify that you
9557 want a version of Perl older than the specified one.
9559 Specifying VERSION as a numeric argument of the form 5.024001 should
9560 generally be avoided as older less readable syntax compared to
9561 v5.24.1. Before perl 5.8.0 released in 2002 the more verbose numeric
9562 form was the only supported syntax, which is why you might see it in
9564 use v5.24.1; # compile time version check
9566 use 5.024_001; # ditto; older syntax compatible with perl 5.6
9568 This is often useful if you need to check the current Perl version before
9569 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>ing library modules that won't work
9570 with older versions of Perl.
9571 (We try not to do this more than we have to.)
9573 C<use VERSION> also lexically enables all features available in the requested
9574 version as defined by the L<feature> pragma, disabling any features
9575 not in the requested version's feature bundle. See L<feature>.
9576 Similarly, if the specified Perl version is greater than or equal to
9577 5.12.0, strictures are enabled lexically as
9578 with L<C<use strict>|strict>. Any explicit use of
9579 C<use strict> or C<no strict> overrides C<use VERSION>, even if it comes
9580 before it. Later use of C<use VERSION>
9581 will override all behavior of a previous
9582 C<use VERSION>, possibly removing the C<strict> and C<feature> added by
9583 C<use VERSION>. C<use VERSION> does not
9584 load the F<feature.pm> or F<strict.pm>
9587 The C<BEGIN> forces the L<C<require>|/require VERSION> and
9588 L<C<import>|/import LIST> to happen at compile time. The
9589 L<C<require>|/require VERSION> makes sure the module is loaded into
9590 memory if it hasn't been yet. The L<C<import>|/import LIST> is not a
9591 builtin; it's just an ordinary static method
9592 call into the C<Module> package to tell the module to import the list of
9593 features back into the current package. The module can implement its
9594 L<C<import>|/import LIST> method any way it likes, though most modules
9595 just choose to derive their L<C<import>|/import LIST> method via
9596 inheritance from the C<Exporter> class that is defined in the
9597 L<C<Exporter>|Exporter> module. See L<Exporter>. If no
9598 L<C<import>|/import LIST> method can be found, then the call is skipped,
9599 even if there is an AUTOLOAD method.
9601 If you do not want to call the package's L<C<import>|/import LIST>
9602 method (for instance,
9603 to stop your namespace from being altered), explicitly supply the empty list:
9607 That is exactly equivalent to
9609 BEGIN { require Module }
9611 If the VERSION argument is present between Module and LIST, then the
9612 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> will call the C<VERSION> method in
9613 class Module with the given version as an argument:
9619 BEGIN { require Module; Module->VERSION(12.34) }
9621 The L<default C<VERSION> method|UNIVERSAL/C<VERSION ( [ REQUIRE ] )>>,
9622 inherited from the L<C<UNIVERSAL>|UNIVERSAL> class, croaks if the given
9623 version is larger than the value of the variable C<$Module::VERSION>.
9625 The VERSION argument cannot be an arbitrary expression. It only counts
9626 as a VERSION argument if it is a version number literal, starting with
9627 either a digit or C<v> followed by a digit. Anything that doesn't
9628 look like a version literal will be parsed as the start of the LIST.
9629 Nevertheless, many attempts to use an arbitrary expression as a VERSION
9630 argument will appear to work, because L<Exporter>'s C<import> method
9631 handles numeric arguments specially, performing version checks rather
9632 than treating them as things to export.
9634 Again, there is a distinction between omitting LIST (L<C<import>|/import
9635 LIST> called with no arguments) and an explicit empty LIST C<()>
9636 (L<C<import>|/import LIST> not called). Note that there is no comma
9639 Because this is a wide-open interface, pragmas (compiler directives)
9640 are also implemented this way. Some of the currently implemented
9646 use sigtrap qw(SEGV BUS);
9647 use strict qw(subs vars refs);
9648 use subs qw(afunc blurfl);
9649 use warnings qw(all);
9650 use sort qw(stable);
9652 Some of these pseudo-modules import semantics into the current
9653 block scope (like L<C<strict>|strict> or L<C<integer>|integer>, unlike
9654 ordinary modules, which import symbols into the current package (which
9655 are effective through the end of the file).
9657 Because L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> takes effect at compile time,
9658 it doesn't respect the ordinary flow control of the code being compiled.
9659 In particular, putting a L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST> inside the
9660 false branch of a conditional doesn't prevent it
9661 from being processed. If a module or pragma only needs to be loaded
9662 conditionally, this can be done using the L<if> pragma:
9664 use if $] < 5.008, "utf8";
9665 use if WANT_WARNINGS, warnings => qw(all);
9667 There's a corresponding L<C<no>|/no MODULE VERSION LIST> declaration
9668 that unimports meanings imported by L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>,
9669 i.e., it calls C<< Module->unimport(LIST) >> instead of
9670 L<C<import>|/import LIST>. It behaves just as L<C<import>|/import LIST>
9671 does with VERSION, an omitted or empty LIST,
9672 or no unimport method being found.
9678 Care should be taken when using the C<no VERSION> form of L<C<no>|/no
9679 MODULE VERSION LIST>. It is
9680 I<only> meant to be used to assert that the running Perl is of a earlier
9681 version than its argument and I<not> to undo the feature-enabling side effects
9684 See L<perlmodlib> for a list of standard modules and pragmas. See
9685 L<perlrun|perlrun/-m[-]module> for the C<-M> and C<-m> command-line
9686 options to Perl that give L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>
9687 functionality from the command-line.
9692 =for Pod::Functions set a file's last access and modify times
9694 Changes the access and modification times on each file of a list of
9695 files. The first two elements of the list must be the NUMERIC access
9696 and modification times, in that order. Returns the number of files
9697 successfully changed. The inode change time of each file is set
9698 to the current time. For example, this code has the same effect as the
9699 Unix L<touch(1)> command when the files I<already exist> and belong to
9700 the user running the program:
9703 my $atime = my $mtime = time;
9704 utime $atime, $mtime, @ARGV;
9706 Since Perl 5.8.0, if the first two elements of the list are
9707 L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>,
9708 the L<utime(2)> syscall from your C library is called with a null second
9709 argument. On most systems, this will set the file's access and
9710 modification times to the current time (i.e., equivalent to the example
9711 above) and will work even on files you don't own provided you have write
9714 for my $file (@ARGV) {
9715 utime(undef, undef, $file)
9716 || warn "Couldn't touch $file: $!";
9719 Under NFS this will use the time of the NFS server, not the time of
9720 the local machine. If there is a time synchronization problem, the
9721 NFS server and local machine will have different times. The Unix
9722 L<touch(1)> command will in fact normally use this form instead of the
9723 one shown in the first example.
9725 Passing only one of the first two elements as L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR> is
9726 equivalent to passing a 0 and will not have the effect described when
9727 both are L<C<undef>|/undef EXPR>. This also triggers an
9728 uninitialized warning.
9730 On systems that support L<futimes(2)>, you may pass filehandles among the
9731 files. On systems that don't support L<futimes(2)>, passing filehandles raises
9732 an exception. Filehandles must be passed as globs or glob references to be
9733 recognized; barewords are considered filenames.
9735 Portability issues: L<perlport/utime>.
9742 =for Pod::Functions return a list of the values in a hash
9744 In list context, returns a list consisting of all the values of the named
9745 hash. In Perl 5.12 or later only, will also return a list of the values of
9746 an array; prior to that release, attempting to use an array argument will
9747 produce a syntax error. In scalar context, returns the number of values.
9749 Hash entries are returned in an apparently random order. The actual random
9750 order is specific to a given hash; the exact same series of operations
9751 on two hashes may result in a different order for each hash. Any insertion
9752 into the hash may change the order, as will any deletion, with the exception
9753 that the most recent key returned by L<C<each>|/each HASH> or
9754 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH> may be deleted without changing the order. So
9755 long as a given hash is unmodified you may rely on
9756 L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>, L<C<values>|/values HASH> and
9757 L<C<each>|/each HASH> to repeatedly return the same order
9758 as each other. See L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> for
9759 details on why hash order is randomized. Aside from the guarantees
9760 provided here the exact details of Perl's hash algorithm and the hash
9761 traversal order are subject to change in any release of Perl. Tied hashes
9762 may behave differently to Perl's hashes with respect to changes in order on
9763 insertion and deletion of items.
9765 As a side effect, calling L<C<values>|/values HASH> resets the HASH or
9766 ARRAY's internal iterator (see L<C<each>|/each HASH>) before yielding the
9767 values. In particular,
9768 calling L<C<values>|/values HASH> in void context resets the iterator
9769 with no other overhead.
9771 Apart from resetting the iterator,
9772 C<values @array> in list context is the same as plain C<@array>.
9773 (We recommend that you use void context C<keys @array> for this, but
9774 reasoned that taking C<values @array> out would require more
9775 documentation than leaving it in.)
9777 Note that the values are not copied, which means modifying them will
9778 modify the contents of the hash:
9780 for (values %hash) { s/foo/bar/g } # modifies %hash values
9781 for (@hash{keys %hash}) { s/foo/bar/g } # same
9783 Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed
9784 L<C<values>|/values HASH> to take a
9785 scalar expression. This experiment has been deemed unsuccessful, and was
9786 removed as of Perl 5.24.
9788 To avoid confusing would-be users of your code who are running earlier
9789 versions of Perl with mysterious syntax errors, put this sort of thing at
9790 the top of your file to signal that your code will work I<only> on Perls of
9793 use 5.012; # so keys/values/each work on arrays
9795 See also L<C<keys>|/keys HASH>, L<C<each>|/each HASH>, and
9796 L<C<sort>|/sort SUBNAME LIST>.
9798 =item vec EXPR,OFFSET,BITS
9799 X<vec> X<bit> X<bit vector>
9801 =for Pod::Functions test or set particular bits in a string
9803 Treats the string in EXPR as a bit vector made up of elements of
9804 width BITS and returns the value of the element specified by OFFSET
9805 as an unsigned integer. BITS therefore specifies the number of bits
9806 that are reserved for each element in the bit vector. This must
9807 be a power of two from 1 to 32 (or 64, if your platform supports
9810 If BITS is 8, "elements" coincide with bytes of the input string.
9812 If BITS is 16 or more, bytes of the input string are grouped into chunks
9813 of size BITS/8, and each group is converted to a number as with
9814 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST>/L<C<unpack>|/unpack TEMPLATE,EXPR> with
9815 big-endian formats C<n>/C<N> (and analogously for BITS==64). See
9816 L<C<pack>|/pack TEMPLATE,LIST> for details.
9818 If bits is 4 or less, the string is broken into bytes, then the bits
9819 of each byte are broken into 8/BITS groups. Bits of a byte are
9820 numbered in a little-endian-ish way, as in C<0x01>, C<0x02>,
9821 C<0x04>, C<0x08>, C<0x10>, C<0x20>, C<0x40>, C<0x80>. For example,
9822 breaking the single input byte C<chr(0x36)> into two groups gives a list
9823 C<(0x6, 0x3)>; breaking it into 4 groups gives C<(0x2, 0x1, 0x3, 0x0)>.
9825 L<C<vec>|/vec EXPR,OFFSET,BITS> may also be assigned to, in which case
9826 parentheses are needed
9827 to give the expression the correct precedence as in
9829 vec($image, $max_x * $x + $y, 8) = 3;
9831 If the selected element is outside the string, the value 0 is returned.
9832 If an element off the end of the string is written to, Perl will first
9833 extend the string with sufficiently many zero bytes. It is an error
9834 to try to write off the beginning of the string (i.e., negative OFFSET).
9836 If the string happens to be encoded as UTF-8 internally (and thus has
9837 the UTF8 flag set), L<C<vec>|/vec EXPR,OFFSET,BITS> tries to convert it
9838 to use a one-byte-per-character internal representation. However, if the
9839 string contains characters with values of 256 or higher, a fatal error
9842 Strings created with L<C<vec>|/vec EXPR,OFFSET,BITS> can also be
9843 manipulated with the logical
9844 operators C<|>, C<&>, C<^>, and C<~>. These operators will assume a bit
9845 vector operation is desired when both operands are strings.
9846 See L<perlop/"Bitwise String Operators">.
9848 The following code will build up an ASCII string saying C<'PerlPerlPerl'>.
9849 The comments show the string after each step. Note that this code works
9850 in the same way on big-endian or little-endian machines.
9853 vec($foo, 0, 32) = 0x5065726C; # 'Perl'
9855 # $foo eq "Perl" eq "\x50\x65\x72\x6C", 32 bits
9856 print vec($foo, 0, 8); # prints 80 == 0x50 == ord('P')
9858 vec($foo, 2, 16) = 0x5065; # 'PerlPe'
9859 vec($foo, 3, 16) = 0x726C; # 'PerlPerl'
9860 vec($foo, 8, 8) = 0x50; # 'PerlPerlP'
9861 vec($foo, 9, 8) = 0x65; # 'PerlPerlPe'
9862 vec($foo, 20, 4) = 2; # 'PerlPerlPe' . "\x02"
9863 vec($foo, 21, 4) = 7; # 'PerlPerlPer'
9865 vec($foo, 45, 2) = 3; # 'PerlPerlPer' . "\x0c"
9866 vec($foo, 93, 1) = 1; # 'PerlPerlPer' . "\x2c"
9867 vec($foo, 94, 1) = 1; # 'PerlPerlPerl'
9870 To transform a bit vector into a string or list of 0's and 1's, use these:
9872 my $bits = unpack("b*", $vector);
9873 my @bits = split(//, unpack("b*", $vector));
9875 If you know the exact length in bits, it can be used in place of the C<*>.
9877 Here is an example to illustrate how the bits actually fall in place:
9883 unpack("V",$_) 01234567890123456789012345678901
9884 ------------------------------------------------------------------
9889 for ($shift=0; $shift < $width; ++$shift) {
9890 for ($off=0; $off < 32/$width; ++$off) {
9891 $str = pack("B*", "0"x32);
9892 $bits = (1<<$shift);
9893 vec($str, $off, $width) = $bits;
9894 $res = unpack("b*",$str);
9895 $val = unpack("V", $str);
9902 vec($_,@#,@#) = @<< == @######### @>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
9903 $off, $width, $bits, $val, $res
9907 Regardless of the machine architecture on which it runs, the
9908 example above should print the following table:
9911 unpack("V",$_) 01234567890123456789012345678901
9912 ------------------------------------------------------------------
9913 vec($_, 0, 1) = 1 == 1 10000000000000000000000000000000
9914 vec($_, 1, 1) = 1 == 2 01000000000000000000000000000000
9915 vec($_, 2, 1) = 1 == 4 00100000000000000000000000000000
9916 vec($_, 3, 1) = 1 == 8 00010000000000000000000000000000
9917 vec($_, 4, 1) = 1 == 16 00001000000000000000000000000000
9918 vec($_, 5, 1) = 1 == 32 00000100000000000000000000000000
9919 vec($_, 6, 1) = 1 == 64 00000010000000000000000000000000
9920 vec($_, 7, 1) = 1 == 128 00000001000000000000000000000000
9921 vec($_, 8, 1) = 1 == 256 00000000100000000000000000000000
9922 vec($_, 9, 1) = 1 == 512 00000000010000000000000000000000
9923 vec($_,10, 1) = 1 == 1024 00000000001000000000000000000000
9924 vec($_,11, 1) = 1 == 2048 00000000000100000000000000000000
9925 vec($_,12, 1) = 1 == 4096 00000000000010000000000000000000
9926 vec($_,13, 1) = 1 == 8192 00000000000001000000000000000000
9927 vec($_,14, 1) = 1 == 16384 00000000000000100000000000000000
9928 vec($_,15, 1) = 1 == 32768 00000000000000010000000000000000
9929 vec($_,16, 1) = 1 == 65536 00000000000000001000000000000000
9930 vec($_,17, 1) = 1 == 131072 00000000000000000100000000000000
9931 vec($_,18, 1) = 1 == 262144 00000000000000000010000000000000
9932 vec($_,19, 1) = 1 == 524288 00000000000000000001000000000000
9933 vec($_,20, 1) = 1 == 1048576 00000000000000000000100000000000
9934 vec($_,21, 1) = 1 == 2097152 00000000000000000000010000000000
9935 vec($_,22, 1) = 1 == 4194304 00000000000000000000001000000000
9936 vec($_,23, 1) = 1 == 8388608 00000000000000000000000100000000
9937 vec($_,24, 1) = 1 == 16777216 00000000000000000000000010000000
9938 vec($_,25, 1) = 1 == 33554432 00000000000000000000000001000000
9939 vec($_,26, 1) = 1 == 67108864 00000000000000000000000000100000
9940 vec($_,27, 1) = 1 == 134217728 00000000000000000000000000010000
9941 vec($_,28, 1) = 1 == 268435456 00000000000000000000000000001000
9942 vec($_,29, 1) = 1 == 536870912 00000000000000000000000000000100
9943 vec($_,30, 1) = 1 == 1073741824 00000000000000000000000000000010
9944 vec($_,31, 1) = 1 == 2147483648 00000000000000000000000000000001
9945 vec($_, 0, 2) = 1 == 1 10000000000000000000000000000000
9946 vec($_, 1, 2) = 1 == 4 00100000000000000000000000000000
9947 vec($_, 2, 2) = 1 == 16 00001000000000000000000000000000
9948 vec($_, 3, 2) = 1 == 64 00000010000000000000000000000000
9949 vec($_, 4, 2) = 1 == 256 00000000100000000000000000000000
9950 vec($_, 5, 2) = 1 == 1024 00000000001000000000000000000000
9951 vec($_, 6, 2) = 1 == 4096 00000000000010000000000000000000
9952 vec($_, 7, 2) = 1 == 16384 00000000000000100000000000000000
9953 vec($_, 8, 2) = 1 == 65536 00000000000000001000000000000000
9954 vec($_, 9, 2) = 1 == 262144 00000000000000000010000000000000
9955 vec($_,10, 2) = 1 == 1048576 00000000000000000000100000000000
9956 vec($_,11, 2) = 1 == 4194304 00000000000000000000001000000000
9957 vec($_,12, 2) = 1 == 16777216 00000000000000000000000010000000
9958 vec($_,13, 2) = 1 == 67108864 00000000000000000000000000100000
9959 vec($_,14, 2) = 1 == 268435456 00000000000000000000000000001000
9960 vec($_,15, 2) = 1 == 1073741824 00000000000000000000000000000010
9961 vec($_, 0, 2) = 2 == 2 01000000000000000000000000000000
9962 vec($_, 1, 2) = 2 == 8 00010000000000000000000000000000
9963 vec($_, 2, 2) = 2 == 32 00000100000000000000000000000000
9964 vec($_, 3, 2) = 2 == 128 00000001000000000000000000000000
9965 vec($_, 4, 2) = 2 == 512 00000000010000000000000000000000
9966 vec($_, 5, 2) = 2 == 2048 00000000000100000000000000000000
9967 vec($_, 6, 2) = 2 == 8192 00000000000001000000000000000000
9968 vec($_, 7, 2) = 2 == 32768 00000000000000010000000000000000
9969 vec($_, 8, 2) = 2 == 131072 00000000000000000100000000000000
9970 vec($_, 9, 2) = 2 == 524288 00000000000000000001000000000000
9971 vec($_,10, 2) = 2 == 2097152 00000000000000000000010000000000
9972 vec($_,11, 2) = 2 == 8388608 00000000000000000000000100000000
9973 vec($_,12, 2) = 2 == 33554432 00000000000000000000000001000000
9974 vec($_,13, 2) = 2 == 134217728 00000000000000000000000000010000
9975 vec($_,14, 2) = 2 == 536870912 00000000000000000000000000000100
9976 vec($_,15, 2) = 2 == 2147483648 00000000000000000000000000000001
9977 vec($_, 0, 4) = 1 == 1 10000000000000000000000000000000
9978 vec($_, 1, 4) = 1 == 16 00001000000000000000000000000000
9979 vec($_, 2, 4) = 1 == 256 00000000100000000000000000000000
9980 vec($_, 3, 4) = 1 == 4096 00000000000010000000000000000000
9981 vec($_, 4, 4) = 1 == 65536 00000000000000001000000000000000
9982 vec($_, 5, 4) = 1 == 1048576 00000000000000000000100000000000
9983 vec($_, 6, 4) = 1 == 16777216 00000000000000000000000010000000
9984 vec($_, 7, 4) = 1 == 268435456 00000000000000000000000000001000
9985 vec($_, 0, 4) = 2 == 2 01000000000000000000000000000000
9986 vec($_, 1, 4) = 2 == 32 00000100000000000000000000000000
9987 vec($_, 2, 4) = 2 == 512 00000000010000000000000000000000
9988 vec($_, 3, 4) = 2 == 8192 00000000000001000000000000000000
9989 vec($_, 4, 4) = 2 == 131072 00000000000000000100000000000000
9990 vec($_, 5, 4) = 2 == 2097152 00000000000000000000010000000000
9991 vec($_, 6, 4) = 2 == 33554432 00000000000000000000000001000000
9992 vec($_, 7, 4) = 2 == 536870912 00000000000000000000000000000100
9993 vec($_, 0, 4) = 4 == 4 00100000000000000000000000000000
9994 vec($_, 1, 4) = 4 == 64 00000010000000000000000000000000
9995 vec($_, 2, 4) = 4 == 1024 00000000001000000000000000000000
9996 vec($_, 3, 4) = 4 == 16384 00000000000000100000000000000000
9997 vec($_, 4, 4) = 4 == 262144 00000000000000000010000000000000
9998 vec($_, 5, 4) = 4 == 4194304 00000000000000000000001000000000
9999 vec($_, 6, 4) = 4 == 67108864 00000000000000000000000000100000
10000 vec($_, 7, 4) = 4 == 1073741824 00000000000000000000000000000010
10001 vec($_, 0, 4) = 8 == 8 00010000000000000000000000000000
10002 vec($_, 1, 4) = 8 == 128 00000001000000000000000000000000
10003 vec($_, 2, 4) = 8 == 2048 00000000000100000000000000000000
10004 vec($_, 3, 4) = 8 == 32768 00000000000000010000000000000000
10005 vec($_, 4, 4) = 8 == 524288 00000000000000000001000000000000
10006 vec($_, 5, 4) = 8 == 8388608 00000000000000000000000100000000
10007 vec($_, 6, 4) = 8 == 134217728 00000000000000000000000000010000
10008 vec($_, 7, 4) = 8 == 2147483648 00000000000000000000000000000001
10009 vec($_, 0, 8) = 1 == 1 10000000000000000000000000000000
10010 vec($_, 1, 8) = 1 == 256 00000000100000000000000000000000
10011 vec($_, 2, 8) = 1 == 65536 00000000000000001000000000000000
10012 vec($_, 3, 8) = 1 == 16777216 00000000000000000000000010000000
10013 vec($_, 0, 8) = 2 == 2 01000000000000000000000000000000
10014 vec($_, 1, 8) = 2 == 512 00000000010000000000000000000000
10015 vec($_, 2, 8) = 2 == 131072 00000000000000000100000000000000
10016 vec($_, 3, 8) = 2 == 33554432 00000000000000000000000001000000
10017 vec($_, 0, 8) = 4 == 4 00100000000000000000000000000000
10018 vec($_, 1, 8) = 4 == 1024 00000000001000000000000000000000
10019 vec($_, 2, 8) = 4 == 262144 00000000000000000010000000000000
10020 vec($_, 3, 8) = 4 == 67108864 00000000000000000000000000100000
10021 vec($_, 0, 8) = 8 == 8 00010000000000000000000000000000
10022 vec($_, 1, 8) = 8 == 2048 00000000000100000000000000000000
10023 vec($_, 2, 8) = 8 == 524288 00000000000000000001000000000000
10024 vec($_, 3, 8) = 8 == 134217728 00000000000000000000000000010000
10025 vec($_, 0, 8) = 16 == 16 00001000000000000000000000000000
10026 vec($_, 1, 8) = 16 == 4096 00000000000010000000000000000000
10027 vec($_, 2, 8) = 16 == 1048576 00000000000000000000100000000000
10028 vec($_, 3, 8) = 16 == 268435456 00000000000000000000000000001000
10029 vec($_, 0, 8) = 32 == 32 00000100000000000000000000000000
10030 vec($_, 1, 8) = 32 == 8192 00000000000001000000000000000000
10031 vec($_, 2, 8) = 32 == 2097152 00000000000000000000010000000000
10032 vec($_, 3, 8) = 32 == 536870912 00000000000000000000000000000100
10033 vec($_, 0, 8) = 64 == 64 00000010000000000000000000000000
10034 vec($_, 1, 8) = 64 == 16384 00000000000000100000000000000000
10035 vec($_, 2, 8) = 64 == 4194304 00000000000000000000001000000000
10036 vec($_, 3, 8) = 64 == 1073741824 00000000000000000000000000000010
10037 vec($_, 0, 8) = 128 == 128 00000001000000000000000000000000
10038 vec($_, 1, 8) = 128 == 32768 00000000000000010000000000000000
10039 vec($_, 2, 8) = 128 == 8388608 00000000000000000000000100000000
10040 vec($_, 3, 8) = 128 == 2147483648 00000000000000000000000000000001
10045 =for Pod::Functions wait for any child process to die
10047 Behaves like L<wait(2)> on your system: it waits for a child
10048 process to terminate and returns the pid of the deceased process, or
10049 C<-1> if there are no child processes. The status is returned in
10050 L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> and
10051 L<C<${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>|perlvar/${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>.
10052 Note that a return value of C<-1> could mean that child processes are
10053 being automatically reaped, as described in L<perlipc>.
10055 If you use L<C<wait>|/wait> in your handler for
10056 L<C<$SIG{CHLD}>|perlvar/%SIG>, it may accidentally wait for the child
10057 created by L<C<qx>|/qxE<sol>STRINGE<sol>> or L<C<system>|/system LIST>.
10058 See L<perlipc> for details.
10060 Portability issues: L<perlport/wait>.
10062 =item waitpid PID,FLAGS
10065 =for Pod::Functions wait for a particular child process to die
10067 Waits for a particular child process to terminate and returns the pid of
10068 the deceased process, or C<-1> if there is no such child process. A
10069 non-blocking wait (with L<WNOHANG|POSIX/C<WNOHANG>> in FLAGS) can return 0 if
10070 there are child processes matching PID but none have terminated yet.
10071 The status is returned in L<C<$?>|perlvar/$?> and
10072 L<C<${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>|perlvar/${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}>.
10074 A PID of C<0> indicates to wait for any child process whose process group ID is
10075 equal to that of the current process. A PID of less than C<-1> indicates to
10076 wait for any child process whose process group ID is equal to -PID. A PID of
10077 C<-1> indicates to wait for any child process.
10081 use POSIX ":sys_wait_h";
10085 $kid = waitpid(-1, WNOHANG);
10090 1 while waitpid(-1, WNOHANG) > 0;
10092 then you can do a non-blocking wait for all pending zombie processes (see
10094 Non-blocking wait is available on machines supporting either the
10095 L<waitpid(2)> or L<wait4(2)> syscalls. However, waiting for a particular
10096 pid with FLAGS of C<0> is implemented everywhere. (Perl emulates the
10097 system call by remembering the status values of processes that have
10098 exited but have not been harvested by the Perl script yet.)
10100 Note that on some systems, a return value of C<-1> could mean that child
10101 processes are being automatically reaped. See L<perlipc> for details,
10102 and for other examples.
10104 Portability issues: L<perlport/waitpid>.
10107 X<wantarray> X<context>
10109 =for Pod::Functions get void vs scalar vs list context of current subroutine call
10111 Returns true if the context of the currently executing subroutine or
10112 L<C<eval>|/eval EXPR> is looking for a list value. Returns false if the
10114 looking for a scalar. Returns the undefined value if the context is
10115 looking for no value (void context).
10117 return unless defined wantarray; # don't bother doing more
10118 my @a = complex_calculation();
10119 return wantarray ? @a : "@a";
10121 L<C<wantarray>|/wantarray>'s result is unspecified in the top level of a file,
10122 in a C<BEGIN>, C<UNITCHECK>, C<CHECK>, C<INIT> or C<END> block, or
10123 in a C<DESTROY> method.
10125 This function should have been named wantlist() instead.
10128 X<warn> X<warning> X<STDERR>
10130 =for Pod::Functions print debugging info
10132 Emits a warning, usually by printing it to C<STDERR>. C<warn> interprets
10133 its operand LIST in the same way as C<die>, but is slightly different
10134 in what it defaults to when LIST is empty or makes an empty string.
10135 If it is empty and L<C<$@>|perlvar/$@> already contains an exception
10136 value then that value is used after appending C<"\t...caught">. If it
10137 is empty and C<$@> is also empty then the string C<"Warning: Something's
10140 By default, the exception derived from the operand LIST is stringified
10141 and printed to C<STDERR>. This behaviour can be altered by installing
10142 a L<C<$SIG{__WARN__}>|perlvar/%SIG> handler. If there is such a
10143 handler then no message is automatically printed; it is the handler's
10144 responsibility to deal with the exception
10145 as it sees fit (like, for instance, converting it into a
10146 L<C<die>|/die LIST>). Most
10147 handlers must therefore arrange to actually display the
10148 warnings that they are not prepared to deal with, by calling
10149 L<C<warn>|/warn LIST>
10150 again in the handler. Note that this is quite safe and will not
10151 produce an endless loop, since C<__WARN__> hooks are not called from
10154 You will find this behavior is slightly different from that of
10155 L<C<$SIG{__DIE__}>|perlvar/%SIG> handlers (which don't suppress the
10156 error text, but can instead call L<C<die>|/die LIST> again to change
10159 Using a C<__WARN__> handler provides a powerful way to silence all
10160 warnings (even the so-called mandatory ones). An example:
10162 # wipe out *all* compile-time warnings
10163 BEGIN { $SIG{'__WARN__'} = sub { warn $_[0] if $DOWARN } }
10165 my $foo = 20; # no warning about duplicate my $foo,
10166 # but hey, you asked for it!
10167 # no compile-time or run-time warnings before here
10170 # run-time warnings enabled after here
10171 warn "\$foo is alive and $foo!"; # does show up
10173 See L<perlvar> for details on setting L<C<%SIG>|perlvar/%SIG> entries
10175 examples. See the L<Carp> module for other kinds of warnings using its
10176 C<carp> and C<cluck> functions.
10178 =item write FILEHANDLE
10185 =for Pod::Functions print a picture record
10187 Writes a formatted record (possibly multi-line) to the specified FILEHANDLE,
10188 using the format associated with that file. By default the format for
10189 a file is the one having the same name as the filehandle, but the
10190 format for the current output channel (see the
10191 L<C<select>|/select FILEHANDLE> function) may be set explicitly by
10192 assigning the name of the format to the L<C<$~>|perlvar/$~> variable.
10194 Top of form processing is handled automatically: if there is insufficient
10195 room on the current page for the formatted record, the page is advanced by
10196 writing a form feed and a special top-of-page
10197 format is used to format the new
10198 page header before the record is written. By default, the top-of-page
10199 format is the name of the filehandle with C<_TOP> appended, or C<top>
10200 in the current package if the former does not exist. This would be a
10201 problem with autovivified filehandles, but it may be dynamically set to the
10202 format of your choice by assigning the name to the L<C<$^>|perlvar/$^>
10203 variable while that filehandle is selected. The number of lines
10204 remaining on the current page is in variable L<C<$->|perlvar/$->, which
10205 can be set to C<0> to force a new page.
10207 If FILEHANDLE is unspecified, output goes to the current default output
10208 channel, which starts out as STDOUT but may be changed by the
10209 L<C<select>|/select FILEHANDLE> operator. If the FILEHANDLE is an EXPR,
10210 then the expression
10211 is evaluated and the resulting string is used to look up the name of
10212 the FILEHANDLE at run time. For more on formats, see L<perlform>.
10214 Note that write is I<not> the opposite of
10215 L<C<read>|/read FILEHANDLE,SCALAR,LENGTH,OFFSET>. Unfortunately.
10219 =for Pod::Functions transliterate a string
10221 The transliteration operator. Same as
10222 L<C<trE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>|/trE<sol>E<sol>E<sol>>. See
10223 L<perlop/"Quote-Like Operators">.
10227 =head2 Non-function Keywords by Cross-reference
10237 These keywords are documented in L<perldata/"Special Literals">.
10255 These compile phase keywords are documented in L<perlmod/"BEGIN, UNITCHECK, CHECK, INIT and END">.
10265 This method keyword is documented in L<perlobj/"Destructors">.
10297 These operators are documented in L<perlop>.
10307 This keyword is documented in L<perlsub/"Autoloading">.
10331 These flow-control keywords are documented in L<perlsyn/"Compound Statements">.
10335 The "else if" keyword is spelled C<elsif> in Perl. There's no C<elif>
10336 or C<else if> either. It does parse C<elseif>, but only to warn you
10337 about not using it.
10339 See the documentation for flow-control keywords in L<perlsyn/"Compound
10352 These flow-control keywords related to the experimental switch feature are
10353 documented in L<perlsyn/"Switch Statements">.