perldoc question (how to get info on getkey)

tphyahoo has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

O wise ones, hear my plea for Help! In the map documentation we have

    %hash = ();
    foreach $_ (@array) {
        $hash{getkey($_)} = $_;
    }
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What does getkey do here? I tried in perloc, asked on chatterbox, and no one seems to be able to tell me. But this is in the core documentation. Am I missing something obvious?

This is a question about the perldoc as much as it is about anything else.

Is there some way I can search everything on perldoc, and grep out the few lines that may be of relevance, rather than going fishing on chatterbox or posting in desperation?

Note: bart thinks this might be term::getkey but that seems wrong.

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Re: perldoc question (how to get info on getkey) by Joost (Canon) on Feb 04, 2005 at 12:24 UTC
I think the getkey() function is just an example. In this case, it's a function that somehow returns the right key to put in %hash for the given value. Note the preceding paragraph: `[...] And %hash = map { getkey($_) => $_ } @array; is just a funny way to write %hash = (); foreach $_ (@array) { $hash{getkey($_)} = $_; }` [download] "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply] [d/l]
Re: perldoc question (how to get info on getkey) by merlyn (Sage) on Feb 04, 2005 at 12:20 UTC
It's almost certainly just a standin, like "foo". It's the function that would "get the key" for the given value. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply]
Re: perldoc question (how to get info on getkey) by aquarium (Curate) on Feb 04, 2005 at 12:24 UTC
looks like pseudocode to me. there's no such function in 5.8.3. if you actually test by putting something into @array before the loop (so that the loop executes), then you'll see the perl error "subroutine getkey not defined" the hardest line to type correctly is: stty erase ^H	[reply]