http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=373293


in reply to Testing <> for undefined

Okay, here's something I don't understand.

Suppose I have the following code, I'll call it prog.pl:

#!/usr/bin/perl my $lines; my @lines; print ("\@ARGV: @ARGV, \$\#ARGV: $#ARGV\n"); if (!@ARGV){ print("No command line parameters present"); } chomp(@lines = <>); foreach $lines (@lines){ print("$lines\n"); }


1. If I run the program as perl prog.pl test.txt it prints out

@ARGV: test.txt, $#ARGV: 0

2. If I run the program as perl prog.pl it prints out

@ARGV: , $#ARGV: -1

(This next one is my problem.)

3. If I run the program as perl prog.pl < test.txt it prints out

@ARGV: , $#ARGV: -1

which looks as if there were no command line arguments.

Now, I realize that in some aspects, this might be considered correct,
as there are no command line arguments, just input to the <> operator.
Will GetOpt get around this peculiarity?
Or am I going to be stuck always showing my little help text no matter what?

Am I missing something dreadfully obvious?