Checking for Number or String

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

Is perl capable of checking whether a scalar is a number or a string?

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use warnings;

sub test {
    my ($gil, $char) = @_;
    print ("you have $gil for $char.");
}

&test (925, "Mithos");
[download]

I want to achieve something along the lines of:

if ($gil != num){die "Gil should be a number.";}
if ($char != string){die "Your characters name should consist of lette
+rs only.";}
[download]

Does perl have a function for this or.. ?

Comment on Checking for Number or String Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Checking for Number or String by ikegami (Patriarch) on Nov 15, 2009 at 23:09 UTC
Scalar::Util's `looks_like_number` tells the difference between what's a number and what's not (according to Perl's definition). `use Scalar::Util qw( looks_like_number ); die("Invalid amount of Gil \"$gil\"\n") if !looks_like_number($gil); die("Invalid character name \"$char\". " ."It must only contain letters [a-z])\n") if $char !~ /^[a-zA-Z]+\z/;` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Checking for Number or String by Lennent (Initiate) on Nov 15, 2009 at 23:28 UTC
Thanks a lot, Scalar::Util will come in very handy!	[reply]
Re: Checking for Number or String by biohisham (Priest) on Nov 15, 2009 at 23:10 UTC
Does perl have a function for this or.. ? Not Exactly 'or' ! check How to check if a scalar value is numeric or string? and This one for a related discussion... Excellence is an Endeavor of Persistence. Chance Favors a Prepared Mind.	[reply] [d/l]