Re: Re: system() and backticks question

As far as my understanding of arrays, scalars and hashes goes, $arr[0] is correct from a syntactical standpoint, but from a functional standpoint @arr[0] seems virtually indentical.

-Jerry
http://www.digilliance.net

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Re (3): system() and backticks question by VSarkiss (Monsignor) on Sep 05, 2001 at 22:21 UTC
I wouldn't make such statements when brother merlyn is around. ;-) The difference is a big one. An array slice (which is what `@arr[0]` is) provides a list context, whereas an array element provides a scalar context. For a graphic illustration, try this code: `my @d = qw(this is a plain array); my @a; $a[0] = @d; print "The scalar got '$a[0]'\n"; @a[0] = @d; print "But the array slice got '$a[0]'\n";` [download] Many things in Perl will behave differently in scalar versus list context. If you continue to use `@a[0]` when you mean `$a[0]`, you will have a surprise one day. OTOH, it's your code....	[reply] [d/l] [select]

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Re (3): system() and backticks question
by VSarkiss (Monsignor) on Sep 05, 2001 at 22:21 UTC

I wouldn't make such statements when brother merlyn is around. ;-)

The difference is a big one. An array slice (which is what @arr[0] is) provides a list context, whereas an array element provides a scalar context. For a graphic illustration, try this code:

my @d = qw(this is a plain array);
my @a;
$a[0] = @d;
print "The scalar got '$a[0]'\n";
@a[0] = @d;
print "But the array slice got '$a[0]'\n";
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@a[0]

$a[0]

will

OTOH, it's your code....

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