weird problem inserting an array into a Tk text widget

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

Can anyone explain this? An unquoted array only prints odd values?

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use Tk;

my $mw = tkinit;
my $textb = $mw->Text->pack();

my $text = 'This answer is copyright ' . chr(169);
my @array = (1..10);

$textb->insert('end',@array);  

$textb->insert('end',"\n@array\n");

$textb->insert('end',$text);
MainLoop;
[download]

Output:

13579   #???????
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
This answer is copyright ©
[download]

I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are

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Re: weird problem inserting an array into a Tk text widget by zentara (Cardinal) on Oct 16, 2008 at 12:00 UTC
I'm guessing from the perldoc for Tk::Text, and it's insert method `If multiple chars-tagList argument pairs are present, they produce the same effect as if a separate insert widget command had been issued for each pair, in order. The last tagList argument may be omitted.` [download] So possibly an unquoted array is interpreted as a set of char-tag pairs, so the tags (even numbers) don't get printed. First time I saw that glitch. :-) I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: weird problem inserting an array into a Tk text widget by vkon (Curate) on Oct 16, 2008 at 13:16 UTC
Indeed, 1st arg is index where to insert the text, 2nd is text, 3rd is tag, 4th is text 5th is tag - often used for text with non-trivial formatting... here is an excerpt from tk docs: pathName insert index chars ?tagList chars tagList ...? Inserts all of the chars arguments just before the character at index. + If index refers to the end of the text (the character after the last + newline) then the new text is inserted just before the last newline +instead. If there is a single chars argument and no tagList, then the + new text will receive any tags that are present on both the characte +r before and the character after the insertion point; if a tag is pre +sent on only one of these characters then it will not be applied to t +he new text. If tagList is specified then it consists of a list of ta +g names; the new characters will receive all of the tags in this list + and no others, regardless of the tags present around the insertion p +oint. If multiple chars-tagList argument pairs are present, they prod +uce the same effect as if a separate pathName insert widget command h +ad been issued for each pair, in order. The last tagList argument may + be omitted. [download]	[reply] [d/l]