use strict;
use warnings;
sub func {}
func ? '-N ' : '';

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yields Search pattern not terminated or ternary operator parsed as search pattern. The error goes away if I call the function as func(). My question: Why does a question mark after a bareword parse as search pattern? Is it just to comply with those internal functions such as grep or split, which accept a regexp as first argument, or is there a deeper reason for this seemingly oddity?

-- 
Ronald Fischer <ynnor@mm.st>

In reply to Why do I need parentheses here? by rovf

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