Re^2: Read two values from input

The default split is /\s+/;. This / +/ is a bit bizarre.

The only difference between the default split (/\s+/, $_ ) and split (' ', $_ ) is that in the first case a leading space will generate a null field. Whereas in the second case, this is suppressed.

The split on ' ', is a special case and although there is just a space there, it means any of the five white space characters: \f\t\r\n\0x40(space). Because both forms operate on all 5 white space characters, any trailing white space will be ignored in both syntax's (unless there is a specified field limit).

There are a lot of tricky special case things about Perl syntax.

Comment on Re^2: Read two values from input

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Re^3: Read two values from input by Anonymous Monk on Nov 27, 2011 at 12:24 UTC
s/There are a lot of tricky special case things about Perl syntax. /There are a lot of context dependent features in Perl, it has a rich (and sometimes ugly) syntax./	[reply]