I fail to see the big deal in using $_ on the left or the right. I mean, tomAYto tomAHto. Where i see people making a big deal about this is with code that uses the numerical comparison operator, which can easily be mistyped, yielding an assignment operator:

perl -le'print "Yep" if $_ = 42'
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Switch the two operands and you get a syntax error:

perl -le'print "Yep" if 42 = $_'
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Me? I still use the former, because if i make that mistake i want to be punished ;) ... but i can definitely see recommending the later to someone else. But ... as for 'readabilty', i say use whichever makes the most sense to the author.

Is today's date April 10th or the 10th of April? ;)

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)