I disagree. I prefer passing named arguments as a hash reference:

    sub Open {
        my( $file, $opts )= @_;
        foreach $key (  %$opts  ) {
            # ...
        }
    }

    Open( "file", { ReadOnly=>1, Retries=>2 } );
[download]

for the following reasons:

• It leaves lots of room for flexability in the API. For example, if my routine requires a 'file' parameter, then I don't see much point in requiring you to type File => when I can do things as above. You can even have optional parameters:

      sub Open {
          my $opts= UNIVERSAL::isa( $_[-1], "HASH" )
              ? pop(@_) : {};
          my( $file, $mode, $mask )= @_;
          # ...
      }
  
      Open( "file" );
      Open( "file", { Exclusive=> 1 } );
      Open( "file", "w", 0666, { Locked=>1 } );
  [download]

• The "Odd number of elements in hash assignment" warning automatically gets thrown at the calling code where it belongs
• It provides a visual cue that named arguments are being used
• It stops you from getting tricky and doing:     Create( Name=>"This", Users=>'fred','bob','joe' ); which you will regret later. Instead you are forced to:     Create( Name=>"This", Users=>['fred','bob','joe'] );

But you need to be careful to not have your function modify the hash. (:

        - tye

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.