Simple syntax error?

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

It must be simple but I can't find it. I've been playing with code far too long today.

    While($#letters + 1 > 5) 
    {
       print "\n\nYou can't guess more than 5 letters! Try again.";

       print "\n\nEnter 5 letters:  ";
       $letters = <STDIN>;
       chomp($letters);
    }
[download]

It errors with:

syntax error at .. line 39, near ")
    {"
syntax error at .. line 45, near "}"
Execution of .. aborted due to compilation errors.
[download]

Comment on Simple syntax error? Select or Download Code

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Re: Simple syntax error? by runrig (Abbot) on Jul 13, 2007 at 23:44 UTC
`letters` is not an array. It is a string. The `$#letters` syntax is for arrays (it returns the last index of the array...or one less than the length of the array). Perhaps you want to use the length function. Are you using strict? Though the capital "W" in the while is your syntax error, as has already been pointed out.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Simple syntax error? by sulfericacid (Deacon) on Jul 13, 2007 at 23:02 UTC
Look closely to the first line of your snippet. Remember, case matters. Hope this helps. "Age is nothing more than an inaccurate number bestowed upon us at birth as just another means for others to judge and classify us" sulfericacid	[reply]
Re: Simple syntax error? by GrandFather (Saint) on Jul 13, 2007 at 23:40 UTC
Not the problem you were asking about, but: `$#letters + 1` is equivelent to `@letters` in a scalar context and the latter is probably a little clearer. DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Simple syntax error? by FunkyMonk (Chancellor) on Jul 13, 2007 at 23:04 UTC
`While($#letters + 1 > 5)` Capital W?	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Simple syntax error? by Anonymous Monk on Jul 14, 2007 at 08:06 UTC
While unrelated to your syntax error, the following line is equivalent to the last two in your code. I always hate to use two lines when one will do. `chomp( $letters = <STDIN> );`	[reply] [d/l]