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

Why does the following work in perl 5.8.3 and not 5.005_03? 
sub change_me{
    
  local $^I = ".bak";
  local *ARGV;
  @ARGV = "some_file";
  while (<>) {
    s/foo/bar/i;
    print;
  }
}

[download]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: In place edit 5.005_03 vs 5.8.3
by bart (Canon) on Apr 28, 2006 at 20:40 UTC
    Does it work without the line local *ARGV;?

    I remember a bug in an older perl where @ARGV, or is it the ARGV file handle, lost its magic when you localized the glob. But I don't remember if that was still so in 5.005.

    Update: I've looked up the thread that I remember, as I was in it. It's here: Re: A buggy intersection-method. Look at the date: Jun 23, 1999.

    Now look at the date of perl 5.005_03: Mar 28, 1999. That's just a few months earlier. So yes, that bug should still be in 5.005_03.

[reply]
[d/l]
      Yes, but it breaks the flow if there is another variable. See here: 
      sub change_me{

  $myvar = somesub();

  local $^I = ".bak";

  @ARGV = "some_file";
  while (<>) {
    s/foo/$myvar/i;
    print;
  }
}

      [download]
      This code hangs. I just can't wrap my head around what happens to $myvar. If this is a static entry (like above) it completes.
[reply]
[d/l]
        Is there a way to get 5.005_03 to use the variable and not hang?
[reply]

Back to Seekers of Perl Wisdom