From perldata: "If you evaluate a hash in scalar context, it returns false if the hash is empty. If there are any key/value pairs, it returns true; more precisely, the value returned is a string consisting of the number of used buckets and the number of allocated buckets, separated by a slash."..

Am I right to assume that if the hash is non-empty if (%hash) and scalar(%hash) are simply returning a stored number of buckets (no loops to count buckets)? If so, that would be exactly want I wanted - O(1). I missed that paragraph. Thanks.

Best, beth

Update: just to be clear - this is meant to be an internals question, not a "trust the docs" question. perlguts doesn't go that deep into the internals of hash implementation.

In reply to Re^2: What is the most efficient way to see if a hash is empty? by ELISHEVA
in thread What is the most efficient way to see if a hash is empty? by ELISHEVA

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