You're assuming split was written to easily count the number of tokens.

Um. Nope. I made no such assumption. Thats purely your assumption.

I agree part way. I can see the thought train that leads to some of it. I've written this function that splits strings. It can be called in 3 contexts. What is the logical thing to do in those contexts?

  1. List context: return the list of bits.
  2. Scalar context: Return how many bits.
  3. Void context: He's asked us to split, but wants nothing back. I guess we could stick the bits in @_ and let him access them there.

But, I fail to see a good (nor even a bad) use case for returning the count AND sticking the bits in @_.

Maybe there's one, but I just don't see it. If it stuck them in @F per -a, maybe.

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
"I'd rather go naked than blow up my ass"

In reply to Re^4: More intelligent warning? by BrowserUk
in thread More intelligent warning? by BrowserUk

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.