=head1 DESCRIPTION
A Perl script consists of a sequence of declarations and statements.
-The only things that need to be declared in Perl are report formats
-and subroutines. See the sections below for more information on those
-declarations. All uninitialized user-created objects are assumed to
-start with a null or 0 value until they are defined by some explicit
-operation such as assignment. (Though you can get warnings about the
-use of undefined values if you like.) The sequence of statements is
-executed just once, unlike in B<sed> and B<awk> scripts, where the
-sequence of statements is executed for each input line. While this means
-that you must explicitly loop over the lines of your input file (or
-files), it also means you have much more control over which files and
-which lines you look at. (Actually, I'm lying--it is possible to do an
-implicit loop with either the B<-n> or B<-p> switch. It's just not the
-mandatory default like it is in B<sed> and B<awk>.)
+The sequence of statements is executed just once, unlike in B<sed>
+and B<awk> scripts, where the sequence of statements is executed
+for each input line. While this means that you must explicitly
+loop over the lines of your input file (or files), it also means
+you have much more control over which files and which lines you look at.
+(Actually, I'm lying--it is possible to do an implicit loop with
+either the B<-n> or B<-p> switch. It's just not the mandatory
+default like it is in B<sed> and B<awk>.)
+
+Perl is, for the most part, a free-form language. (The only exception
+to this is format declarations, for obvious reasons.) Text from a
+C<"#"> character until the end of the line is a comment, and is
+ignored. If you attempt to use C</* */> C-style comments, it will be
+interpreted either as division or pattern matching, depending on the
+context, and C++ C<//> comments just look like a null regular
+expression, so don't do that.
=head2 Declarations
-Perl is, for the most part, a free-form language. (The only
-exception to this is format declarations, for obvious reasons.) Comments
-are indicated by the "#" character, and extend to the end of the line. If
-you attempt to use C</* */> C-style comments, it will be interpreted
-either as division or pattern matching, depending on the context, and C++
-C<//> comments just look like a null regular expression, so don't do
-that.
+The only things you need to declare in Perl are report formats
+and subroutines--and even undefined subroutines can be handled
+through AUTOLOAD. A variable holds the undefined value (C<undef>)
+until it has been assigned a defined value, which is anything
+other than C<undef>. When used as a number, C<undef> is treated
+as C<0>; when used as a string, it is treated the empty string,
+C<"">; and when used as a reference that isn't being assigned
+to, it is treated as an error. If you enable warnings, you'll
+be notified of an uninitialized value whenever you treat C<undef>
+as a string or a number. Well, usually. Boolean ("don't-care")
+contexts and operators such as C<++>, C<-->, C<+=>, C<-=>, and
+C<.=> are always exempt from such warnings.
A declaration can be put anywhere a statement can, but has no effect on
the execution of the primary sequence of statements--declarations all
take effect at compile time. Typically all the declarations are put at
the beginning or the end of the script. However, if you're using
-lexically-scoped private variables created with my(), you'll have to make sure
+lexically-scoped private variables created with C<my()>, you'll
+have to make sure
your format or subroutine definition is within the same block scope
as the my if you expect to be able to access those private variables.
sub myname;
$me = myname $0 or die "can't get myname";
-Note that it functions as a list operator, not as a unary operator; so
+Note that my() functions as a list operator, not as a unary operator; so
be careful to use C<or> instead of C<||> in this case. However, if
you were to declare the subroutine as C<sub myname ($)>, then
C<myname> would function as a unary operator, so either C<or> or
The C<if> and C<unless> modifiers have the expected semantics,
presuming you're a speaker of English. The C<foreach> modifier is an
-iterator: For each value in EXPR, it aliases $_ to the value and
+iterator: For each value in EXPR, it aliases C<$_> to the value and
executes the statement. The C<while> and C<until> modifiers have the
-usual "while loop" semantics (conditional evaluated first), except
-when applied to a do-BLOCK (or to the now-deprecated do-SUBROUTINE
+usual "C<while> loop" semantics (conditional evaluated first), except
+when applied to a C<do>-BLOCK (or to the deprecated C<do>-SUBROUTINE
statement), in which case the block executes once before the
conditional is evaluated. This is so that you can write loops like:
...
} until $line eq ".\n";
-See L<perlfunc/do>. Note also that the loop control
-statements described later will I<NOT> work in this construct, because
-modifiers don't take loop labels. Sorry. You can always wrap
-another block around it to do that sort of thing.
+See L<perlfunc/do>. Note also that the loop control statements described
+later will I<NOT> work in this construct, because modifiers don't take
+loop labels. Sorry. You can always put another block inside of it
+(for C<next>) or around it (for C<last>) to do that sort of thing.
+For C<next>, just double the braces:
+
+ do {{
+ next if $x == $y;
+ # do something here
+ }} until $x++ > $z;
+
+For C<last>, you have to be more elaborate:
+
+ LOOP: {
+ do {
+ last if $x = $y**2;
+ # do something here
+ } while $x++ <= $z;
+ }
=head2 Compound statements
LABEL while (EXPR) BLOCK continue BLOCK
LABEL for (EXPR; EXPR; EXPR) BLOCK
LABEL foreach VAR (LIST) BLOCK
+ LABEL foreach VAR (LIST) BLOCK continue BLOCK
LABEL BLOCK continue BLOCK
Note that, unlike C and Pascal, these are defined in terms of BLOCKs,
the sense of the test is reversed.
The C<while> statement executes the block as long as the expression is
-true (does not evaluate to the null string or 0 or "0"). The LABEL is
-optional, and if present, consists of an identifier followed by a colon.
-The LABEL identifies the loop for the loop control statements C<next>,
-C<last>, and C<redo>. If the LABEL is omitted, the loop control statement
+true (does not evaluate to the null string C<""> or C<0> or C<"0">).
+The LABEL is optional, and if present, consists of an identifier followed
+by a colon. The LABEL identifies the loop for the loop control
+statements C<next>, C<last>, and C<redo>.
+If the LABEL is omitted, the loop control statement
refers to the innermost enclosing loop. This may include dynamically
looking back your call-stack at run time to find the LABEL. Such
desperate behavior triggers a warning if you use the B<-w> flag.
+Unlike a C<foreach> statement, a C<while> statement never implicitly
+localises any variables.
If there is a C<continue> BLOCK, it is always executed just before the
conditional is about to be evaluated again, just like the third part of a
# now process $line
}
-Or here's a simpleminded Pascal comment stripper (warning: assumes no
-{ or } in strings).
+Note that if there were a C<continue> block on the above code, it would get
+executed even on discarded lines. This is often used to reset line counters
+or C<?pat?> one-time matches.
- LINE: while (<STDIN>) {
- while (s|({.*}.*){.*}|$1 |) {}
- s|{.*}| |;
- if (s|{.*| |) {
- $front = $_;
- while (<STDIN>) {
- if (/}/) { # end of comment?
- s|^|$front{|;
- redo LINE;
- }
- }
- }
- print;
+ # inspired by :1,$g/fred/s//WILMA/
+ while (<>) {
+ ?(fred)? && s//WILMA $1 WILMA/;
+ ?(barney)? && s//BETTY $1 BETTY/;
+ ?(homer)? && s//MARGE $1 MARGE/;
+ } continue {
+ print "$ARGV $.: $_";
+ close ARGV if eof(); # reset $.
+ reset if eof(); # reset ?pat?
}
-Note that if there were a C<continue> block on the above code, it would get
-executed even on discarded lines.
-
If the word C<while> is replaced by the word C<until>, the sense of the
test is reversed, but the conditional is still tested before the first
iteration.
+The loop control statements don't work in an C<if> or C<unless>, since
+they aren't loops. You can double the braces to make them such, though.
+
+ if (/pattern/) {{
+ next if /fred/;
+ next if /barney/;
+ # so something here
+ }}
+
The form C<while/if BLOCK BLOCK>, available in Perl 4, is no longer
available. Replace any occurrence of C<if BLOCK> by C<if (do BLOCK)>.
implicitly local to the loop and regains its former value upon exiting
the loop. If the variable was previously declared with C<my>, it uses
that variable instead of the global one, but it's still localized to
-the loop. (Note that a lexically scoped variable can cause problems
-if you have subroutine or format declarations within the loop which
-refer to it.)
+the loop.
The C<foreach> keyword is actually a synonym for the C<for> keyword, so
-you can use C<foreach> for readability or C<for> for brevity. If VAR is
-omitted, $_ is set to each value. If any element of LIST is an lvalue,
-you can modify it by modifying VAR inside the loop. That's because
-the C<foreach> loop index variable is an implicit alias for each item
-in the list that you're looping over.
+you can use C<foreach> for readability or C<for> for brevity. (Or because
+the Bourne shell is more familiar to you than I<csh>, so writing C<for>
+comes more naturally.) If VAR is omitted, C<$_> is set to each value.
+If any element of LIST is an lvalue, you can modify it by modifying VAR
+inside the loop. That's because the C<foreach> loop index variable is
+an implicit alias for each item in the list that you're looping over.
If any part of LIST is an array, C<foreach> will get very confused if
you add or remove elements within the loop body, for example with
$nothing = 1;
}
-There is no official switch statement in Perl, because there are
+There is no official C<switch> statement in Perl, because there are
already several ways to write the equivalent. In addition to the
above, you could write
$nothing = 1;
}
-or formatted so it stands out more as a "proper" switch statement:
+or formatted so it stands out more as a "proper" C<switch> statement:
SWITCH: {
/^abc/ && do {
else
{ $nothing = 1 }
-
-A common idiom for a switch statement is to use C<foreach>'s aliasing to make
-a temporary assignment to $_ for convenient matching:
+A common idiom for a C<switch> statement is to use C<foreach>'s aliasing to make
+a temporary assignment to C<$_> for convenient matching:
SWITCH: for ($where) {
/In Card Names/ && do { push @flags, '-e'; last; };
for a C<do> block to return the proper value:
$amode = do {
- if ($flag & O_RDONLY) { "r" }
+ if ($flag & O_RDONLY) { "r" } # XXX: isn't this 0?
elsif ($flag & O_WRONLY) { ($flag & O_APPEND) ? "a" : "w" }
elsif ($flag & O_RDWR) {
if ($flag & O_CREAT) { "w+" }
}
};
+Or
+
+ print do {
+ ($flags & O_WRONLY) ? "write-only" :
+ ($flags & O_RDWR) ? "read-write" :
+ "read-only";
+ };
+
+Or if you are certainly that all the C<&&> clauses are true, you can use
+something like this, which "switches" on the value of the
+C<HTTP_USER_AGENT> envariable.
+
+ #!/usr/bin/perl
+ # pick out jargon file page based on browser
+ $dir = 'http://www.wins.uva.nl/~mes/jargon';
+ for ($ENV{HTTP_USER_AGENT}) {
+ $page = /Mac/ && 'm/Macintrash.html'
+ || /Win(dows )?NT/ && 'e/evilandrude.html'
+ || /Win|MSIE|WebTV/ && 'm/MicroslothWindows.html'
+ || /Linux/ && 'l/Linux.html'
+ || /HP-UX/ && 'h/HP-SUX.html'
+ || /SunOS/ && 's/ScumOS.html'
+ || 'a/AppendixB.html';
+ }
+ print "Location: $dir/$page\015\012\015\012";
+
+That kind of switch statement only works when you know the C<&&> clauses
+will be true. If you don't, the previous C<?:> example should be used.
+
+You might also consider writing a hash of subroutine references
+instead of synthesizing a C<switch> statement.
+
=head2 Goto
-Although not for the faint of heart, Perl does support a C<goto> statement.
-A loop's LABEL is not actually a valid target for a C<goto>;
-it's just the name of the loop. There are three forms: goto-LABEL,
-goto-EXPR, and goto-&NAME.
+Although not for the faint of heart, Perl does support a C<goto>
+statement. There are three forms: C<goto>-LABEL, C<goto>-EXPR, and
+C<goto>-&NAME. A loop's LABEL is not actually a valid target for
+a C<goto>; it's just the name of the loop.
-The goto-LABEL form finds the statement labeled with LABEL and resumes
+The C<goto>-LABEL form finds the statement labeled with LABEL and resumes
execution there. It may not be used to go into any construct that
-requires initialization, such as a subroutine or a foreach loop. It
+requires initialization, such as a subroutine or a C<foreach> loop. It
also can't be used to go into a construct that is optimized away. It
can be used to go almost anywhere else within the dynamic scope,
including out of subroutines, but it's usually better to use some other
-construct such as last or die. The author of Perl has never felt the
-need to use this form of goto (in Perl, that is--C is another matter).
+construct such as C<last> or C<die>. The author of Perl has never felt the
+need to use this form of C<goto> (in Perl, that is--C is another matter).
-The goto-EXPR form expects a label name, whose scope will be resolved
-dynamically. This allows for computed gotos per FORTRAN, but isn't
+The C<goto>-EXPR form expects a label name, whose scope will be resolved
+dynamically. This allows for computed C<goto>s per FORTRAN, but isn't
necessarily recommended if you're optimizing for maintainability:
goto ("FOO", "BAR", "GLARCH")[$i];
-The goto-&NAME form is highly magical, and substitutes a call to the
+The C<goto>-&NAME form is highly magical, and substitutes a call to the
named subroutine for the currently running subroutine. This is used by
-AUTOLOAD() subroutines that wish to load another subroutine and then
+C<AUTOLOAD()> subroutines that wish to load another subroutine and then
pretend that the other subroutine had been called in the first place
-(except that any modifications to @_ in the current subroutine are
-propagated to the other subroutine.) After the C<goto>, not even caller()
+(except that any modifications to C<@_> in the current subroutine are
+propagated to the other subroutine.) After the C<goto>, not even C<caller()>
will be able to tell that this routine was called first.
In almost all cases like this, it's usually a far, far better idea to use the
=cut back
print "got $a\n";
-You probably shouldn't rely upon the warn() being podded out forever.
+You probably shouldn't rely upon the C<warn()> being podded out forever.
Not all pod translators are well-behaved in this regard, and perhaps
the compiler will become pickier.
=head2 Plain Old Comments (Not!)
-Much like the C preprocessor, perl can process line directives. Using
-this, one can control perl's idea of filenames and line numbers in
+Much like the C preprocessor, Perl can process line directives. Using
+this, one can control Perl's idea of filenames and line numbers in
error or warning messages (especially for strings that are processed
-with eval()). The syntax for this mechanism is the same as for most
+with C<eval()>). The syntax for this mechanism is the same as for most
C preprocessors: it matches the regular expression
C</^#\s*line\s+(\d+)\s*(?:\s"([^"]*)")?/> with C<$1> being the line
number for the next line, and C<$2> being the optional filename
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff