It was here that I saw recently how $/ could be temporarily redefined within a block. For example:

{
   local $/ = '';
   chomp(@array = <FILEHANDLE>);
}

[download]

I thought I would shorten it slightly:

{
   local $/;
#  ( or:  local undef $/;  )
   chomp(@array = <FILEHANDLE>);
}

[download]

This made a considerable difference in the contents of "@array". In the first case<KBD> (local $/ = '';) </KBD>entire paragraphs were slurped into each element of the array. But in the second<KBD> (local $/;) </KBD> this didn't happen; each element within the array was a single line from the input file.

How is it that<kbd style=color:red> '' </kbd>is so different from no value (or so different from "undef")?

In reply to Altering the value of "$/" by greenhorn

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