=head2 Predefined Names
-The following names have special meaning to Perl. Most of the
+The following names have special meaning to Perl. Most
punctuation names have reasonable mnemonics, or analogues in one of
-the shells. Nevertheless, if you wish to use the long variable names,
+the shells. Nevertheless, if you wish to use long variable names,
you just need to say
use English;
at the top of your program. This will alias all the short names to the
-long names in the current package. Some of them even have medium names,
+long names in the current package. Some even have medium names,
generally borrowed from B<awk>.
To go a step further, those variables that depend on the currently
-selected filehandle may instead be set by calling an object method on
-the FileHandle object. (Summary lines below for this contain the word
-HANDLE.) First you must say
+selected filehandle may instead (and preferably) be set by calling an
+object method on the FileHandle object. (Summary lines below for this
+contain the word HANDLE.) First you must say
use FileHandle;
method HANDLE EXPR
-or
+or more safely,
HANDLE->method(EXPR)
you try to assign to this variable, either directly or indirectly through
a reference, you'll raise a run-time exception.
+The following list is ordered by scalar variables first, then the
+arrays, then the hashes (except $^M was added in the wrong place).
+This is somewhat obscured by the fact that %ENV and %SIG are listed as
+$ENV{expr} and $SIG{expr}.
+
+
=over 8
=item $ARG
=over 8
-=item $E<lt>I<digit>E<gt>
+=item $E<lt>I<digits>E<gt>
Contains the subpattern from the corresponding set of parentheses in
the last pattern matched, not counting patterns matched in nested
-blocks that have been exited already. (Mnemonic: like \digit.)
+blocks that have been exited already. (Mnemonic: like \digits.)
These variables are all read-only.
=item $MATCH
influences the interpretation of only "C<^>" and "C<$>". A literal newline can
be searched for even when C<$* == 0>.
-Use of "C<$*>" is deprecated in modern perls.
+Use of "C<$*>" is deprecated in modern Perls, supplanted by
+the C</s> and C</m> modifiers on pattern matching.
=item input_line_number HANDLE EXPR
Remember: the value of $/ is a string, not a regexp. AWK has to be
better for something :-)
+Setting $/ to a reference to an integer, scalar containing an integer, or
+scalar that's convertable to an integer will attempt to read records
+instead of lines, with the maximum record size being the referenced
+integer. So this:
+
+ $/ = \32768; # or \"32768", or \$var_containing_32768
+ open(FILE, $myfile);
+ $_ = <FILE>;
+
+will read a record of no more than 32768 bytes from FILE. If you're not
+reading from a record-oriented file (or your OS doesn't have
+record-oriented files), then you'll likely get a full chunk of data with
+every read. If a record is larger than the record size you've set, you'll
+get the record back in pieces.
+
+On VMS, record reads are done with the equivalent of C<sysread>, so it's
+best not to mix record and non-record reads on the same file. (This is
+likely not a problem, as any file you'd want to read in record mode is
+proably usable in line mode) Non-VMS systems perform normal I/O, so
+it's safe to mix record and non-record reads of a file.
+
=item autoflush HANDLE EXPR
=item $OUTPUT_AUTOFLUSH
=item $?
The status returned by the last pipe close, backtick (C<``>) command,
-or system() operator. Note that this is the status word returned by
-the wait() system call (or else is made up to look like it). Thus,
-the exit value of the subprocess is actually (C<$? E<gt>E<gt> 8>), and
-C<$? & 255> gives which signal, if any, the process died from, and
-whether there was a core dump. (Mnemonic: similar to B<sh> and
-B<ksh>.)
+or system() operator. Note that this is the status word returned by the
+wait() system call (or else is made up to look like it). Thus, the exit
+value of the subprocess is actually (C<$? E<gt>E<gt> 8>), and C<$? & 127>
+gives which signal, if any, the process died from, and C<$? & 128> reports
+whether there was a core dump. (Mnemonic: similar to B<sh> and B<ksh>.)
+
+Additionally, if the C<h_errno> variable is supported in C, its value
+is returned via $? if any of the C<gethost*()> functions fail.
Note that if you have installed a signal handler for C<SIGCHLD>, the
value of C<$?> will usually be wrong outside that handler.
If used in a numeric context, yields the current value of errno, with
all the usual caveats. (This means that you shouldn't depend on the
-value of "C<$!>" to be anything in particular unless you've gotten a
+value of C<$!> to be anything in particular unless you've gotten a
specific error return indicating a system error.) If used in a string
context, yields the corresponding system error string. You can assign
-to "C<$!>" to set I<errno> if, for instance, you want "C<$!>" to return the
+to C<$!> to set I<errno> if, for instance, you want C<"$!"> to return the
string for error I<n>, or you want to set the exit value for the die()
operator. (Mnemonic: What just went bang?)
=item $^E
-More specific information about the last system error than that provided by
-C<$!>, if available. (If not, it's just C<$!> again, except under OS/2.)
-At the moment, this differs from C<$!> under only VMS and OS/2, where it
-provides the VMS status value from the last system error, and OS/2 error
-code of the last call to OS/2 API which was not directed via CRT. The
-caveats mentioned in the description of C<$!> apply here, too.
-(Mnemonic: Extra error explanation.)
+Error information specific to the current operating system. At
+the moment, this differs from C<$!> under only VMS, OS/2, and Win32
+(and for MacPerl). On all other platforms, C<$^E> is always just
+the same as C<$!>.
-Note that under OS/2 C<$!> and C<$^E> do not track each other, so if an
-OS/2-specific call is performed, you may need to check both.
+Under VMS, C<$^E> provides the VMS status value from the last
+system error. This is more specific information about the last
+system error than that provided by C<$!>. This is particularly
+important when C<$!> is set to B<EVMSERR>.
+
+Under OS/2, C<$^E> is set to the error code of the last call to
+OS/2 API either via CRT, or directly from perl.
+
+Under Win32, C<$^E> always returns the last error information
+reported by the Win32 call C<GetLastError()> which describes
+the last error from within the Win32 API. Most Win32-specific
+code will report errors via C<$^E>. ANSI C and UNIX-like calls
+set C<errno> and so most portable Perl code will report errors
+via C<$!>.
+
+Caveats mentioned in the description of C<$!> generally apply to
+C<$^E>, also. (Mnemonic: Extra error explanation.)
=item $EVAL_ERROR
=item $^H
-The current set of syntax checks enabled by C<use strict>. See the
-documentation of C<strict> for more details.
+The current set of syntax checks enabled by C<use strict> and other block
+scoped compiler hints. See the documentation of C<strict> for more details.
=item $INPLACE_EDIT
The current value of the inplace-edit extension. Use C<undef> to disable
inplace editing. (Mnemonic: value of B<-i> switch.)
+=item $^M
+
+By default, running out of memory it is not trappable. However, if
+compiled for this, Perl may use the contents of C<$^M> as an emergency
+pool after die()ing with this message. Suppose that your Perl were
+compiled with -DPERL_EMERGENCY_SBRK and used Perl's malloc. Then
+
+ $^M = 'a' x (1<<16);
+
+would allocate a 64K buffer for use when in emergency. See the F<INSTALL>
+file for information on how to enable this option. As a disincentive to
+casual use of this advanced feature, there is no L<English> long name for
+this variable.
+
=item $OSNAME
=item $^O
=item $^P
-The internal flag that the debugger clears so that it doesn't debug
-itself. You could conceivably disable debugging yourself by clearing
-it.
+The internal variable for debugging support. Different bits mean the
+following (subject to change):
+
+=over 6
+
+=item 0x01
+
+Debug subroutine enter/exit.
+
+=item 0x02
+
+Line-by-line debugging.
+
+=item 0x04
+
+Switch off optimizations.
+
+=item 0x08
+
+Preserve more data for future interactive inspections.
+
+=item 0x10
+
+Keep info about source lines on which a subroutine is defined.
+
+=item 0x20
+
+Start with single-step on.
+
+=back
+
+Note that some bits may be relevent at compile-time only, some at
+run-time only. This is a new mechanism and the details may change.
+
+=item $^S
+
+Current state of the interpreter. Undefined if parsing of the current
+module/eval is not finished (may happen in $SIG{__DIE__} and
+$SIG{__WARN__} handlers). True if inside an eval, otherwise false.
=item $BASETIME
use lib '/mypath/libdir/';
use SomeMod;
+=item @_
+
+Within a subroutine the array @_ contains the parameters passed to that
+subroutine. See L<perlsub>.
+
=item %INC
The hash %INC contains entries for each filename that has
The C<require> command uses this array to determine whether a given file
has already been included.
-=item $ENV{expr}
+=item %ENV $ENV{expr}
The hash %ENV contains your current environment. Setting a
value in C<ENV> changes the environment for child processes.
-=item $SIG{expr}
+=item %SIG $SIG{expr}
The hash %SIG is used to set signal handlers for various
signals. Example:
sub handler { # 1st argument is signal name
- local($sig) = @_;
+ my($sig) = @_;
print "Caught a SIG$sig--shutting down\n";
close(LOG);
exit(0);
}
- $SIG{'INT'} = 'handler';
- $SIG{'QUIT'} = 'handler';
+ $SIG{'INT'} = \&handler;
+ $SIG{'QUIT'} = \&handler;
...
$SIG{'INT'} = 'DEFAULT'; # restore default action
$SIG{'QUIT'} = 'IGNORE'; # ignore SIGQUIT
The %SIG array contains values for only the signals actually set within
the Perl script. Here are some other examples:
- $SIG{PIPE} = Plumber; # SCARY!!
- $SIG{"PIPE"} = "Plumber"; # just fine, assumes main::Plumber
+ $SIG{"PIPE"} = Plumber; # SCARY!!
+ $SIG{"PIPE"} = "Plumber"; # assumes main::Plumber (not recommended)
$SIG{"PIPE"} = \&Plumber; # just fine; assume current Plumber
$SIG{"PIPE"} = Plumber(); # oops, what did Plumber() return??
processing continues as it would have in the absence of the hook,
unless the hook routine itself exits via a C<goto>, a loop exit, or a die().
The C<__DIE__> handler is explicitly disabled during the call, so that you
-can die from a C<__DIE__> handler. Similarly for C<__WARN__>. See
-L<perlfunc/die>, L<perlfunc/warn> and L<perlfunc/eval>.
-
-=item $^M
-
-By default, running out of memory it is not trappable. However, if
-compiled for this, Perl may use the contents of C<$^M> as an emergency
-pool after die()ing with this message. Suppose that your Perl were
-compiled with -DEMERGENCY_SBRK and used Perl's malloc. Then
-
- $^M = 'a' x (1<<16);
-
-would allocate a 64K buffer for use when in emergency. See the F<INSTALL>
-file for information on how to enable this option. As a disincentive to
-casual use of this advanced feature, there is no L<English> long name for
-this variable.
+can die from a C<__DIE__> handler. Similarly for C<__WARN__>.
+
+Note that the C<$SIG{__DIE__}> hook is called even inside eval()ed
+blocks/strings. See L<perlfunc/die> and L<perlvar/$^S> for how to
+circumvent this.
+
+Note that C<__DIE__>/C<__WARN__> handlers are very special in one
+respect: they may be called to report (probable) errors found by the
+parser. In such a case the parser may be in inconsistent state, so
+any attempt to evaluate Perl code from such a handler will probably
+result in a segfault. This means that calls which result/may-result
+in parsing Perl should be used with extreme causion, like this:
+
+ require Carp if defined $^S;
+ Carp::confess("Something wrong") if defined &Carp::confess;
+ die "Something wrong, but could not load Carp to give backtrace...
+ To see backtrace try starting Perl with -MCarp switch";
+
+Here the first line will load Carp I<unless> it is the parser who
+called the handler. The second line will print backtrace and die if
+Carp was available. The third line will be executed only if Carp was
+not available.
+
+See L<perlfunc/die>, L<perlfunc/warn> and L<perlfunc/eval> for
+additional info.
=back
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