choroba: answered.
LanX: what does -M _ mean?
Corion: "_" is the last-stat'ted filehandle
Corion: perlvar should have it, and/or stat

update

the special filehandle _ doesn't seem to be documented in perlvar , don't know why.

Try

perldoc -f -X
[download]

    If any of the file tests (or either the "stat" or "lstat" 
    operator) is given the special filehandle consisting of a solitary
    underline, then the stat structure of the previous file test (or
    stat operator) is used, saving a system call. (This doesn't work
    with "-t", and you need to remember that lstat() and "-l" leave
    values in the stat structure for the symbolic link, not the real
    file.) (Also, if the stat buffer was filled by an "lstat" call,
    "-T" and "-B" will reset it with the results of "stat _").
    Example:

        print "Can do.\n" if -r $a || -w _ || -x _;

        stat($filename);
        print "Readable\n" if -r _;
        print "Writable\n" if -w _;
        print "Executable\n" if -x _;
        print "Setuid\n" if -u _;
        print "Setgid\n" if -g _;
        print "Sticky\n" if -k _;
        print "Text\n" if -T _;
        print "Binary\n" if -B _;

UPDATE:
"... the point is that it's not obvious ..."

Just showing you where the information is currently found. If you want to make it more obvious you know exactly how to get that ball rolling on your own. Good luck.

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

> perldoc -f -X

true, but the point is that it's not obvious to look in stat or perlfunc if one notices that _ behaves differently to other barewords.

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

PS: Je suis Charlie!

the special filehandle _ doesn't seem to be documented in perlvar , don't know why.

Hmm, this may be nitpicking, but I am not sure it can be called a "special filehandle", it is not really a filehandle. IMHO, it is more like a filename (and file path). But I do not know what to call it either. Perhaps we could call this a special alias to the last file submitted to a file test operator or to stat.

One thing is sure. I have been knowing about this possibility for several years, and I usually recognize it when I see it, but whenever I would need to use it (well, not so often, but it happens once in a while), I don't remember what it was exactly, and I spend time finding again the right piece of documentation. The documentation could really be improved on this, with the right cross-references to make it easier to find.

The good thing about this thread is that I believe I'll remember it from now on.

Je suis Charlie.

> but I am not sure it can be called a "special filehandle",

Yeah, but that's how it is called in the docs.

And you will see that it behaves like an instance of IO::File - like other filehandles do.

  DB<100> _->test
Can't locate object method "test" via package "IO::File" at (eval 16)[
+multi_perl5db.pl:644] line 2.
[download]

And this was the point which made me stumble when I tried to declare a package _; some weeks ago.

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

PS: Je suis Charlie!

One of the main reasons that I prefer paper documents is that it so easy to add a note or reference in the margin. You have just identified a new note for my copy of "Perl in a Nutshell". --thanks
Bill

thank you choroba, that did it