Re: Why does 'print shift sort @array' not work?

As shift removes an element from its argument (an array), there must be an actual array data structure to remove from. In your case it's just a list of values on the Perl internal stack.

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Summary of Posts by pat_mc (Pilgrim) on Mar 12, 2009 at 21:00 UTC
Thanks to almut - and all the others who took the time to respond. I was erroneously under the impression that the terms 'list' and 'array' are fully synonymous in Perl ... which, of course, they are not. Most of the comments posted confirm, what I could have found at the beginning of chapter 3 in the Llama book as well where it says: "A list is an ordered collection of scalars. An array is a variable that contains a list. In Perl, the two terms are often used as if they're interchangeable. But, to be accurate, the list is the data, and the array is the variable." With `shift` operating on an array and returning a list, all is clear now. Thanks again to all of you who contributed to the clarification. Cheers - Pat	[reply] [d/l]

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by pat_mc (Pilgrim) on Mar 12, 2009 at 21:00 UTC

almut

"A list is an ordered collection of scalars. An array is a variable that contains a list. In Perl, the two terms are often used as if they're interchangeable. But, to be accurate, the list is the data, and the array is the variable."

shift

[reply]
[d/l]