Somewhat tangential, but a less messy, more readable and preferable (IMHO) version of this is: 

return
    COND_A ? A  :
    COND_B ? B  :
    COND_C ? C  :
    COND_D ? () :  # returns undef or empty list per context
    die "unmatched case"
    ;

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Give a man a fish:  <%-{-{-{-<

In reply to [OT]: Re^9: What's the right way to write a method which returns one line at a time from a file? by AnomalousMonk
in thread What's the right way to write a method which returns one line at a time from a file? by Cody Fendant

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