you can also use an anonymous array to accomplish what you attempted in your second example: 
print [ split(/:/,<FILEHANDLE>) ]->[3]

[download]
Oddly enough, to use a list slice there are some subtle parenthesis issues: 
# this works:
print ((split /:/, <FILEHANDLE>)[3]);

# doesn't work (note the missing outer parenthesis):
print (split /:/, <FILEHANDLE>)[3];

[download]
I'm guessing the second example has some ambiguity with taking the slice off the print or the split
-- Brian

Update: As pointed out below, an anonymous array is slower (by 39%) than a plain ol' list slice. Depending on the circumstances, however, it's very unlikely that this slowdown would ever be noticable (since on the box I tested, it was still able to perform 89,445 anonymous array creations and access per second).

In reply to Re: perlish way of splitting file records by bpphillips
in thread perlish way of splitting file records by narashima

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