Re^2: Where is $# fully documented?

> It does not mention $# at all

well in these 5.20 docs this is mentioned $aref->$#*; # same as $#{ $aref }

> but points 1 and 2 there address exactly what you are asking about.

Anywhere you'd put an identifier (or chain of identifiers) as part of a variable or subroutine name

So I suppose $# counts as a special function since its not a variable, but addressing an attribute of a variable?

Thanks anyway! :)

Cheers Rolf

_{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language and ☆☆☆☆ :)}

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Re^3: Where is $# fully documented? by ysth (Canon) on Sep 23, 2014 at 17:25 UTC
Special function? No. The `a` in `@a` is the identifier part of the variable name; the documentation addresses anywhere you'd put that `a`, which includes `$#a`. Update: hmm, it does say "as part of a variable...name", implying it would only work if $#a is a considered a variable. I shy away from that because, even though it is an assignable lvalue, it really is just an attribute of an array variable. So the doc could use a minor tweak. In any case, `$#$arrayref / $#{$arrayref}` ought to be added to the examples there. -- A math joke: r = \| \|csc(θ)\|+\|sec(θ)\| \|-\| \|csc(θ)\|-\|sec(θ)\| \|	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: Where is $# fully documented? by LanX (Saint) on Sep 24, 2014 at 09:43 UTC
> I shy away from that because, even though it is an assignable lvalue, it really is just an attribute of an array variable. So the doc could use a minor tweak. That's my point, I couldn't mentally map this behavior to normal dereferencing mechanics cause it rather feels like a magic feature. To make it more obvious, theoretically we could have a special syntax for `keys` and `values` of a hash ( like e.g. `%<hash` ). This would be a similar beast (/me struggling for a name ;) > In any case, $#$arrayref / $#{$arrayref}ought to be added to the examples there Definitely! Cheers Rolf _{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language and ☆☆☆☆ :)}	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^5: Where is $# fully documented? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Sep 24, 2014 at 13:05 UTC
we could have a special syntax for keys and values of a hash ( like e.g. `%<hash` ). It couldn't be a variable since it's a list of values. It wouldn't make sense to give it the syntax of a variable since you couldn't do anything to it that you could do to a variable. Unless you mean `keys` in scalar context. That's an lvalue function that returns a magical variable like `substr`. As such, that could be made into a variable (e.g. `keys(%h) = 123;` could be made into `%#h = 123;`).	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Where is $# fully documented? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Sep 23, 2014 at 14:48 UTC
`$#a` is no more a function and as much a variable as `$a` and `@a`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]