odd behaving arrays

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

Can anyone please explain to me why these two arrays are different?? ( $array[1] has been read from a file which has then been split into elements of an array, it now contains this: apples pears oranges in tab-delimited text.


my @fruit = $array[1];

my @fruit = ('apples', 'pears', 'oranges');
[download]

the program i am writing works with the latter, not the former. If they are different, how can I convert the former into the latter as it it the former that i need to work with??? cheers.................

update (broquaint): escaped brackets with <code> tags to avoid linking

Comment on odd behaving arrays Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: odd behaving arrays by LTjake (Prior) on Nov 29, 2002 at 13:25 UTC
If i understand you correctly, then `$array[1]` looks like this `"apples\tpears\toranges"`? If, so, you'll have to use split to create the array you want. example: `$array[1] = "apples\tpears\toranges"; my @fruit = split(/\t/, $array[1]); print "[$_]\n" foreach @fruit;` [download] Results: `[apples] [pears] [oranges]` [download] -- Rock is dead. Long live paper and scissors!	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: odd behaving arrays by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Nov 29, 2002 at 13:26 UTC
The first line will create an array with one element; its sole element containing whatever `$array [1]` contains. The second line creates an array with 3 elements. I don't know how to convert the former. I don't what you expect `$array [1]` to contain. I have a pretty good guess what it does contain, but then, the question wouldn't make much sense. Abigail	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: odd behaving arrays by marinersk (Priest) on Nov 29, 2002 at 15:54 UTC
`> my @fruit = $array[1];` According to your description, `$array[1]` has `apples pears oranges` in it (with tabs instead of spaces). Therefore, this line of code takes `apples pears oranges` and sticks it in `$fruit[0]`. Remember that Perl arrays start at `[0]`. Essentially, then, you've taken the second element of `@array` and stuck it into the first (and only) element of `@fruit`. `> my @fruit = ('apples', 'pears', 'oranges');` This takes `apples` and sticks it in `$fruit[0]`, takes `pears` and sticks it in `$fruit[1]`, and `oranges` and sticks it in `$fruit[2]`. This results in an array `@fruit` with three elements. Does that help? - Steve	[reply] [d/l] [select]