Re: Return Value of List-Producing Elements in Scalar Context

Normally, $a = @array; will store the number of elements in the list in $a. That is not always the case, because of wantarray. For example:

$scalar = localtime();
print($scalar, "\n");
# "Mon Aug 23 11:31:16 2004"

@array = localtime();
$scalar = @array;
print($scalar, ':', join(',', @array), "\n");
# 9:16,31,11,23,7,104,1,235,1

@array = scalar(localtime());
$scalar = @array;
print($scalar, ':', join(',', @array), "\n");
# 1:Mon Aug 23 11:34:30 2004
[download]

Update: Fixed error pointed out by davorg

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Re^2: Return Value of List-Producing Elements in Scalar Context by davorg (Chancellor) on Aug 23, 2004 at 15:38 UTC
Normally, `$a = ( ...list... );` will store the number of elements in the list in $a. Did you test that before you wrote it? `$ perl -le '$a = (3, 4, 5); print $a' 5` [download] I think you're confusing lists and arrays. -- <http://www.dave.org.uk> "The first rule of Perl club is you do not talk about Perl club." -- Chip Salzenberg	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Return Value of List-Producing Elements in Scalar Context by ikegami (Patriarch) on Aug 23, 2004 at 15:43 UTC
I did test it, but the last element of the list was the number of elements in the list... Fixed my original post.	[reply]