Idiomatic? Needlessly obfuscated, I'd say, without even a gain in keystrokes. $|=1 takes four keystrokes, $|++ as well, but has more shifted keys. And it gives the false impression that you can turn buffering off by doing $| -- as often as you've given $| ++. 
    $| = 0;
    $| ++; $| ++; $| --; $| --;
    print $|;   # prints 1, not 0!

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If I were to code review production code, someone writing $| ++ instead of $| = 1 better have a pretty damn good reason for doing so.

Abigail

In reply to Re: What the heck does $|++; do? by Abigail-II
in thread What the heck does $|++; do? by Anonymous Monk

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