Re: Re: LWP::Simple and Read-only Values

No, it is not the exact same code. The exact code includes this:

$asdf =~ /(asdf)/;
$1 =~ s/asdf//;
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In other words, I was trying to modify the special variable $1. Once I set $1 to something else, the code worked like a charm. Why can't I do substitutions on $1?

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Re: Re: Re: LWP::Simple and Read-only Values by chromatic (Archbishop) on Jul 13, 2003 at 03:08 UTC
You can't modify `$1` because it's a read only variable. It doesn't make sense to make it a writeable variable because it's only ever supposed to contain the first capture from the most recently successful match. That may not be the most convincing explanation, but that's the official reason. If you could modify the magic global captures, should or shouldn't it affect the matched string itself? That's pretty tricky and, pragmatically, it's a stone better left unturned.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: Re: LWP::Simple and Read-only Values by bobn (Chaplain) on Jul 13, 2003 at 03:01 UTC
3rd edition of Camel flags these ($1, $2, etc.) clearly as readonly, as does `perldoc perlvar` --Bob Niederman, http://bob-n.com	[reply]