(while <FILE>) {
  chomp;
  print "$_\n"; # prints the current line.
}
[download]

If you only need the first line ... then only grab the first line:

my $line = <FILEPTR>;
[download]

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

I need to know if its truly a new line or if they spanned multiple lines so i can give a understanable error to the user. I will try eq again

BadMojo
mford@badmojo.biz
www.badmojo.biz
!=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-!
When something works but shouldn't thats BADMOJO baby.

You should have specified that in your original question. "... to be sure they only have new lines" is not the same as "give a understanable error to the user." Now then, here's how i might check for such an "error":

my @array = <FILEHANDLE>;
if (@array < 1) {
    # we have no lines, send an error message
}
eslif (@array > 1) {
    # we have a 'too many lines' error jim, send a message
}
else {
    # this porridge tastes *just* right ... continue with processing
}
[download]

When you slurp a filehandle into an array, you can always count the number of lines by counting how many elements the array has. No need to explicitly check for newlines.

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

here's a thought... could you join all of the lines together (maybe chomp them all first), then you get one big line. then, you don't have to worry if the user's input spans into the second line or if they have new lines. this is assuming that a file contains only one 'line' of useful information though.

my $line = join '', map { chomp } <FILEPTR>;
[download]

I'd do something like (untested)

my $myvar;
{
  local $/ = undef;
  if ( ( $myvar = <FILEPTR> )  =~ s/\n+//g ) {
    alert_user();
  } 
}
[download]

( $myvar = <FILEPTR> )  =~ s/\n+//g;
[download]

local $/ = undef;
[download]

If you want to preserve the last newline (and just get rid of the embedded ones), use this regular expression instead:

s/\n+(?!\z)//g
[download]

In other words, it would be very simple to set up a few test cases (you should have them anyways!) and see if it works as you hope.

aaahhhh for any one else who may want to know how to do this I got it to work by doing this

$myvar1 == "\n"

BadMojo
mford@badmojo.biz
www.badmojo.biz
!=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-!
When something works but shouldn't thats BADMOJO baby.

Try 'eq' and you'll be better off.

Oh - turn on warnings. You'll have found you're not doing what you think you're doing.

---

• In general, if you think something isn't in Perl, try it out, because it usually is. :-)
• "What is the sound of Perl? Is it not the sound of a wall that people have stopped banging their heads against?"

That's only working because whatever's in $myvar1 and "\n" both happen to evaluate to 0 in a numeric context. You really meant eq; see perldoc perlop.

Update: Now if what you really mean is "is it a blank line with nothing but whitespace" you probably want $myvar1 =~ /^\s*$/