You were probably doing something like this: 
my ($ip) = gethostbyname("slashdot.org");

[download]

In that code, $ip is in a list, and the statement is in list context, so the statement is equivalent to: 

my ($ip, undef, undef, undef, undef) = gethostbyname("slashdot.org");

[download]

which will put the name in returned from gethostbyname in $ip.

Aside: This is the reason I rail against unnecessary parenthisation in perl programs---there can be nasty context bugs until you get used to it.

In reply to RE: RE: Re: gethostbyname bug? by Nooks
in thread gethostbyname bug? by geektron

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