spacewarp has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

In the following code, $this_category is a two-digit value that's read from a local file. $tt is a variable I defined for debugging purposes. 
$tt = "03";
if ($tt == $this_category) { print "YES"; } 
else {print "NO: tt--$tt-- this_category--$this_category--";}

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The response that the web browser gets is: 
NO: tt--03-- this_category--03--

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I am running perl 5.005_03 and using taint checking and -w. Does anyone have any idea what's happening here? I need the $this_category value to work for a hash lookup.

I will gladly post more of the code if asked.

Spacewarp

DISCLAIMER:
Use of this advanced computing technology does not imply an endorsement
of Western industrial civilization.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: When is 03 not equal to 03?
by chipmunk (Parson) on Oct 14, 2001 at 02:01 UTC
    Since the issue hsa already been resolved, here's a related, mildly interesting tidbit. 03 should always be equal to 03, but... when is 033 not equal to 033? 

    $var = '033';
if ($var == 033) {
  print "Equal.\n";
} else {
  print "Not equal.\n";
}

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    As perldata explains, octal and hexadecimal numbers in strings are not automatically converted to their decimal equivalents, so '033' becomes 33, while the numeric literal 033 becomes 27.
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Re: When is 03 not equal to 03?
by George_Sherston (Vicar) on Oct 14, 2001 at 01:01 UTC
    It's not much consolation, but it should work. Perl should be forcing your variables into numerical context if necessary, so that the comparison shd be ok with either == or eq. I'd be interested to see how $this_category is defined, but I've tried defining it all different ways and I can only get your error message by defining it as "04"!

    I'm using ActivePerl 5.6.1.629, however, which may make the difference.

    § George Sherston
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Re: When is 03 not equal to 03?
by spacewarp (Pilgrim) on Oct 14, 2001 at 00:33 UTC
    PS.. I've tried the if comparison with both == and eq, and if fails both ways.

    Spacewarp

    DISCLAIMER:
    Use of this advanced computing technology does not imply an endorsement
    of Western industrial civilization.
[reply]
      Once again, my faith in Murphy is confirmed. I figured it out soon after I posted the question. $this_category was being changed in a way that didn't show up in the web browser, ie 03 . Sorry for the wasted node.

      On second thought, let this be a lesson to others: When debugging with the web browser, always check the HTML source code.

      Spacewarp

      DISCLAIMER:
      Use of this advanced computing technology does not imply an endorsement
      of Western industrial civilization.
[reply]

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