Skip return values

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

How can I skip the first two return values of the function(which returns an array)?

Consider the following example

        #! /bin/perl
        use strict;
        sub sample
        {
                my @arr=(1,2,3,4);
                return @arr;
        }
        my ($a,$b,$c,$d) = &sample;
        print "$a\n$b\n$c\n$d\n";
[download]

In the above code, How can I get the $c without using the arguments such as $a,$b.

I don't want to use any array to get the return values.

Comment on Skip return values Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Skip return values by jwkrahn (Abbot) on Apr 03, 2009 at 06:24 UTC
`my ( undef, undef, $c, $d ) = sample();` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Skip return values by lakshmananindia (Chaplain) on Apr 03, 2009 at 05:25 UTC
You can do that as follows `my $c=(&sample)[2]; print $c;` [download] --Lakshmanan G. The great pleasure in my life is doing what people say you cannot do.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Skip return values by vinoth.ree (Monsignor) on Apr 03, 2009 at 06:26 UTC
If you return array reference like `my $arr=[1,2,3,4]; return $arr`. Then you can achieve what you expect as follows `my $c=@{&sample}[2];` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Skip return values by AnomalousMonk (Archbishop) on Apr 03, 2009 at 07:21 UTC
And, if returning an array reference, yet another way: `>perl -wMstrict -le "sub sample { return [1, 2, 3, 4]; } my $c = sample()->[2]; print $c; " 3` [download] BTW: The `&sample` form of subroutine invocation is deprecated.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Skip return values by codeacrobat (Chaplain) on Apr 03, 2009 at 14:22 UTC
You are passing @ARGV to sample. Thats why the syntax &subroutine is bad TM. Its not just cosmetically ugly. `print+qq(\L@{[ref\&@]}@{['@'x7^'!#2/"!4']});`	[reply] [d/l]