passing $var to smtp subroutine

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

Hello, I am having trouble passing a variable to a function to use smtp. In the snippet below, the basic problem is that the $mailid variable is not being interpreted. Everything seems to be fine but no mail is sent. However, if a straight email address account is used instead of a variable, it works fine. Any ideas or help would be appreciated. Thanks!

use Net::SMTP;
$var1="value1";
$var2="value2";
 &sendm($var1,$var2);

sub sendm() {
        my $emailid = $_[0];
        my $subject = $_[1];

        $smtp->to('$emailid\@address.com'); 
        smtp->datasend("To: $mailid\@address.com\n");
}
[download]

Comment on passing $var to smtp subroutine Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: passing $var to smtp subroutine by roboticus (Chancellor) on Feb 07, 2009 at 06:18 UTC
csarid: Single quotes 'like this' prevent variables from being substituted. You want "double quotes". Untested example: `my $foo='bar'; print "Foo is $foo\n"; print 'Foo is $foo\n';` [download] should print: `Foo is bar Foo is $foo` [download] ...roboticus Update: I should've mentioned: The term used when a variable is substituted into a string is "interpolation".	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: passing $var to smtp subroutine by balakrishnan (Monk) on Feb 07, 2009 at 06:57 UTC
line which is having the mistake : $smtp->to('$emailid\@address.com'); proper line : $smtp->to("$emailid\@address.com"); if you are using the single quotes for the string, then you have to use the eval to get value of variables used inside. Else you can go with double quotes.	[reply]
Re^2: passing $var to smtp subroutine by csarid (Sexton) on Feb 07, 2009 at 19:12 UTC
Balakrishnan, Thanks that is exactly what I was looking for. Although I should have experimented a bit more on this before submitting the question. Thanks again!	[reply]
Re: passing $var to smtp subroutine by AnomalousMonk (Archbishop) on Feb 07, 2009 at 07:32 UTC
In addition, two things which will cause you problems later: You are defining the function `sendm` with a prototype that declares no arguments will be passed: the empty parentheses after the function name in `sub sendm``()` `{ ... }` Don't use prototypes until you are sure you know what they are for. You are calling the function `sendm` with the `&` sigil. This disables prototype checking. Don't use this method of subroutine invocation until you are sure you know what it is for. Instead, call the subroutine just as `sendm($var1,$var2);` (but without having used a prototype – and certainly not an empty argument list prototype – in its definition). Update: Changed wording, layout to improve clarity.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: passing $var to smtp subroutine by csarid (Sexton) on Feb 07, 2009 at 19:16 UTC
Thanks for the clarification. I removed the parenthesis so it looks like: "sub func" instead of "sub func()" and I did not have to use the &. Thanks again!	[reply]
Re: passing $var to smtp subroutine by toolic (Bishop) on Feb 07, 2009 at 13:39 UTC
Do you really have 2 separate variables, `$emailid` and `$mailid`, or is `$mailid` a typo? Using the strictures will help catch potential mistakes like this: `use warnings; use strict;` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: passing $var to smtp subroutine by csarid (Sexton) on Feb 07, 2009 at 19:14 UTC
Thanks toolic, I bit the bullet and put in the use warnings and strict and will used them moving forward	[reply]