-Nitrox

The point is that now you can compare numbers even if a calculation yields infinity: (try $exponent = 10000)

if (2 ** $exponent > $threshold) {
   do_sth();
}

without getting a "non-numeric value" error. See http://bumppo.net/lists/fun-with-perl/2001/06/msg00031.html

Thanks all. The point is, Perl prints out the Infinity number as "Inf" (FreeBSD) or "inf" (linux). What I learned is that the string "Inf" is just a string.

Now I'm using $inf=10**10**10

FWIW, perl 5.16.1 :)

$ perl -e " print 1 + Infinity "
1.#INF
$ perl -e " print 1 + inf"
1.#INF
$ perl -e " print  int inf"
1.#INF
$
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I don't know where all it comes into play but try this:

#!/usr/bin/perl
my $int = 999999999999999999999999999999999999;
print $int**$int,$/;
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