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RE: Re: scalar doesn't work values returned by a function?by perlmonkey (Hermit) |
on May 11, 2000 at 11:08 UTC ( [id://11135]=note: print w/replies, xml ) | Need Help?? |
I think you might be missing one of the finer points of perl.
Functions can return completly different value depending on what context they are called in. sort does not always return a list, it usually does. If sort is called is a scalar context then the function returns undef. It does not return a list if called in scalar context. So the scalar function is not placing the return value of sort in scalar context it is placing the the actual function call in scalar context. Here is some code for demonstration: This is what Russ was refering to Results: 20 This creates a function which will return different values depending on the context that the function was called in: And to see this code in action: Results: SCALAR CALL 5 10 15 20 And similarly: Results: SCALAR CALL 5 10 15 20 Hopefully this helps.
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