Re^3: Using Data::Dumper to dump an array of hashes to a file

Mostly, yes.

I wouldn't use require because it would decline to load the same file twice (unless you monkey with %INC). Also, I don't know if it would return the value returned by the file (I think it doesn't).

Using do is a better choice, but the error handling is different. Here's some code I wrote a while back after examining the docs for a while:

    if ( ! defined do $rc_file ) {
        die "Error in '$rc_file': $@"    if $@;
        die "Can't read '$rc_file': $!"  if $!;
        warn "'$rc_file' returned undef as last value";
    }
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It's not as easy as just "return @{ do $file }", but I admit I like it better. Using do has some other differences noted by the documentation, but nothing I'd expect to trip us up in this case.

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Re^4: Using Data::Dumper to dump an array of hashes to a file by alexm (Chaplain) on Aug 15, 2008 at 07:47 UTC
I wouldn't use require because it would decline to load the same file twice (unless you monkey with `%INC`). Also, I don't know if it would return the value returned by the file (I think it doesn't). It actually does :) I've been using require for a while to read simple config files: it does syntax error checking and the fact that it only loads once was not a big deal. However, I agree that YAML (or Config::IniFiles et al.) are safer and should be preferred.	[reply] [d/l]

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Re^4: Using Data::Dumper to dump an array of hashes to a file
by alexm (Chaplain) on Aug 15, 2008 at 07:47 UTC

I wouldn't use require because it would decline to load the same file twice (unless you monkey with %INC). Also, I don't know if it would return the value returned by the file (I think it doesn't).

It actually does :)

I've been using require for a while to read simple config files: it does syntax error checking and the fact that it only loads once was not a big deal. However, I agree that YAML (or Config::IniFiles et al.) are safer and should be preferred.

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[d/l]