Using this definition of closure, every procedure or sub you write is a closure.

I don't think using this broad a definition helps clarify the term or how closures are used in Perl. Within Perl at least, the term "closure" refers to a subroutine that references lexical variables outside it's own scope. This has a very specific meaning and a very specific application.

# doesn't reference anything outside the scope of the subroutine scope sub not_a_closure { my $i; $i++; return $i } # references a package variable, not a lexical variable our $global; sub also_not_a_closure { $global++; return $global; } # a closure -- references a lexical outside the scope my $lexical; sub a_closure { $lexical++; return $lexical; } # anonymous closure generator -- references a new variable each time sub closure_generator { my $fresh_lexical; return sub { $fresh_lexical++; return $fresh_lexical; } }

-xdg

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In reply to Re^2: Nailing down closures! by xdg
in thread Nailing down closures! by mattford63

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