Binary "x" is the repetition operator. In scalar context or if the left operand is not enclosed in parentheses, it returns a string consisting of the left operand repeated the number of times specified by the right operand. In list context, if the left operand is enclosed in parentheses or is a list formed by "qw/STRING/", it repeats the list. If the right operand is zero or negative, it returns an empty string or an empty list, depending on the context.

The Highlander Operator.

It resolves any gazillion operations on the rhs to just 1 (One).

()x!! then is the list asserter. Of course, a list cannot be asserted better than through the Highlander Himself - so it's full name is "The Highlander List Asserter" :-)

--shmem

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}

"Boolean Cast Operator" would be a less cryptic name than "Highlander Operator" for !!.

It's not even correct to say it returns 1. For example, print "[", !!1, "]" prints []. For a true argument, !! returns the dualvar 1/''.

Update: I got it backwards. True = dualvar (PVNV) 1/'1', False = dualvar (PVNV) 0/''.

Hmm? Is that platform dependent?

lt-gm [gm] 21:43 ~ > perl -le 'print "[", !!1, "]"'        
[1]
[download]

Linux, perl 5.8.8. I choose "Higlander Operator" following the unstated naming conventions other secret operators follow ;-)

--shmem

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}

Hehe, thanks, but I’m afraid I can’t claim credit for this one. I wouldn’t have gotten there without a nudge from TheLarry.

Makeshifts last the longest.