Data in perl is determined more by how you use it than what it contains. The term 'numeric' is kind of overloaded. The perlfaq4 page answers the question "How do I determine whether a scalar is a number/whole/integer/float?"

The character "a" can be used numerically, i.e. if ("a" == 0). What you probably want, though is the regex already mentioned.

In reply to Re: Determine if character is numeric or text by archon
in thread Determine if character is numeric or text by Steve Veltman

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