If I try to verify that: $a=$a <operator> $b; is same as $a <operator> = $b; My script using $a=$a <operator> $b produces a warning message. The test script is: 
my %baseball = (
    mets      =>   "new york",
    orioles   =>   "baltimore",
    twins     =>   "minnesota"
);

if ( $baseball{yankees}=$baseball{yankees}.$baseball{mets} )  {
    foreach $_ (keys %baseball) {
        print "$_ => $baseball{$_}\n";
    }
}

[download]
...attempting to add yankees=>"new york" (not using the ".=" form) produces: 
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation(.)or string at /test.pl li
+ne 13.
orioles => baltimore
yankees => new york
twins => minnesota
mets => new york

[download]
Why the warning? ...Thanks

In reply to problem unless I use ".=" by cgmd

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • 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! —
  • 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:
    & &amp;
    < &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.