# inline hyphens will cause problems
D:\Temp>perl -MData::Dumper -e "use strict; print Dumper({-leading_min
+us=>1,+plus=>1,in-line-minus=>1})"
Bareword "in" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at -e line 1.
Bareword "line" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at -e line 1.
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.

# what happened to the plus?
D:\Temp>perl -MData::Dumper -e "use strict; print Dumper({-leading_min
+us=>1,+plus=>1,'in-line-minus'=>1})"
$VAR1 = {
          'in-line-minus' => 1,
          '-leading_minus' => 1,
          'plus' => 1
        };

# this works fine
D:\Temp>perl -MData::Dumper -e "use strict; print Dumper({-leading_min
+us=>1,'+plus'=>1,'in-line-minus'=>1})"
$VAR1 = {
          'in-line-minus' => 1,
          '-leading_minus' => 1,
          '+plus' => 1
        };
[download]

UPDATE:If in doubt use either Text::Quote->quote_key() or qw:

{qw( 
     -align        CENTER
     -valign       TOP
     -BGCOLOR      blue
     -font-color   yellow
     -FONT-FAMILY  verdana,arial,helvetica
     -FONT-SIZE    12
)}
[download]

--- demerphq
my friends call me, usually because I'm late....

This was my first assumption, however, command-line testing contradicted this: (Warning, I'm on unix, looks like you're on Win32 - adjust quotes accordingly)

sh$ perl -MCGI -e '$q = new CGI ; print $q->Tr({-font-family => "not-v
+alid"})'
[download]

Gives:

<tr 0="not-valid" />
[download]

Which appears to contradict my assumption, excusing brainfarts.

davis
Is this going out live?
No, Homer, very few cartoons are broadcast live - it's a terrible strain on the animator's wrist

Update: Thanks for the explanation, LTjake
Update 2: Thanks also to demerphq.

CGI.pm want the args to have a leading dash, then convert all dashes in the name to underscores. So, to fix your example (pardon my win32 :):

perl -MCGI -e "$q = new CGI ; print $q->Tr({-font_family => 'not-valid
+'})"
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Gives

<tr font-family="not-valid" />
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and to fix up the inital params:

use CGI;
$q = new CGI;

print $q->Tr({
    -align       => "CENTER",
    -valign      => "TOP",
    -bgcolor     => "blue",
    -font_color  => "yellow",
    -font_family => "verdana, arial, helvetica",
    -font_size   => "12"
});
[download]

gives

<tr valign="TOP" font-family="verdana, arial, helvetica" font-color="y
+ellow" align="CENTER" font-size="12" bgcolor="blue" />
[download]



--
"I don't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs." --Nancy Reagan

The problem in your example is not the leading '-' but the inline hyphen. Since -font-family has the latter its gunna fail. And if you had used strict should have failed with an error. I say should because when I tested it it didnt (I am preparing a bug report right now), however with warnings enabled you do get a good idea of what is going on. Also B::Deparse gets this stuff wrong FWICT. (another bug report on the way)

D:\perl\psmail-1.0>perl -MData::Dumper -w -e "use strict; print Dumper
+({-font-family => 'not-valid'})"
Argument "family" isn't numeric in subtraction (-) at -e line 1.
Argument "-font" isn't numeric in subtraction (-) at -e line 1.
$VAR1 = {
          '0' => 'not-valid'
        };

D:\perl\psmail-1.0>perl -MData::Dumper -w -e "use strict; print Dumper
+({-fontfamily => 'not-valid'})"
$VAR1 = {
          '-fontfamily' => 'not-valid'
        };

# Deparse gets this one _wrong_
D:\perl\psmail-1.0>perl -MO=Deparse -MCGI -e "use strict; my $q = new 
+CGI ; print $q->Tr({-fontfamily => 'not-valid'})"
my $q = 'CGI'->new;
print $q->Tr({-'fontfamily', 'not-valid'});
-e syntax OK

# Hard to say for sure, but apparently Deparse gets this right. But wh
+y doesnt it die?
D:\perl\psmail-1.0>perl -MO=Deparse -MCGI -e "use strict; my $q = new 
+CGI ; print $q->Tr({-font-family => 'not-valid'})"

my $q = 'CGI'->new;
print $q->Tr({-'font' - 'family', 'not-valid'});
-e syntax OK
[download]

--- demerphq
my friends call me, usually because I'm late....

 ({-align => "CENTER",  -valign=>"TOP", -BGCOLOR=>"blue", -"font-color
+"=> "yellow", -"FONT-FAMILY"=> "verdana,arial,helvetica", -"FONT-SIZE
+"=> "12"},
[download]

Ignoring HTML validity for a moment:

 ({"-align"       => "CENTER",
   "-valign"      => "TOP",
   "-BGCOLOR"     => "blue",
   "-font-color"  => "yellow",
   "-FONT-FAMILY" => "verdana,arial,helvetica",
   "-FONT-SIZE"   => "12"})
[download]

is probably more helpful. Hint: Keep quoting (and most other syntax) consistent, and it's easier to debug

cheers
davis
Is this going out live?
No, Homer, very few cartoons are broadcast live - it's a terrible strain on the animator's wrist

Update: Sheesh. Two instances of the word "probably" in one sentence? Yuck.