Can / Do BEGIN blocks return their evaluated content?

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

Fellow Monks,

I've thinking about the BEGIN block today - and whether or not it returns it's contents. I did a quick experiment that doesn't really conclude anything except that perl doesn't want to play along.

Here is what I'm simulating:

#!/usr/bin/perl

sleep 4;
BEGIN { $anon = time }
print "timespan: " . (time - $anon); # shows 4
[download]

And here's how I think it should be able to work:

#!/usr/bin/perl

sleep 4;
print "timespan: " . (time - BEGIN{time}); # should show 4
[download]

But I get this error:
Can't call method "BEGIN" without a package or object reference at timemachine.pl line 4.

Is there a way to make it do what I want? What exactly is it complaining about there? I tried doing it inside a package, but alas. It was to no avail.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Comment on Can / Do BEGIN blocks return their evaluated content? Select or Download Code

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Re: Can / Do BEGIN blocks return their evaluated content? by Fletch (Bishop) on Dec 21, 2007 at 18:35 UTC
You can't just stick a named BLOCK there in the middle of an expression and expect it to work. If you use B::Deparse you'll see it's being parsed as trying to call the method `BEGIN` on the return value of a block with just `time` in it. `sleep(4); print(('timespan: ' . (time - do { time }->BEGIN)));` [download] The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Can / Do BEGIN blocks return their evaluated content? by Roy Johnson (Monsignor) on Dec 21, 2007 at 18:49 UTC
Neither `BEGIN` nor `INIT` blocks evaluate to anything. The way to do what you want is probably to involve a `do` block and a variable: `sleep 4; print "timespan: " . (time - do { my $btime; BEGIN {$btime=time} $btime }); # should show 4` [download] Caution: Contents may have been coded under pressure.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Can / Do BEGIN blocks return their evaluated content? by shmem (Chancellor) on Dec 22, 2007 at 00:17 UTC
BEGIN blocks are compiled and executed during the compilation of the program text in which they appear. Since the containing program text is just compiled, an assignment of a BEGIN block's return value cannot take place: that would be runtime. That's why use (compile time) doesn't return anything, while require (runtime) does. --shmem _($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo. G°\ / /\_¯/(q / ---------------------------- \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."· ");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}	[reply]
Re: Can / Do BEGIN blocks return their evaluated content? by jhourcle (Prior) on Dec 21, 2007 at 20:57 UTC
You may wish to explain _why_ you want it to work. If you're just interested in the time that the program started, use $^T (or $BASETIME, if you're using English).	[reply]
Re^2: Can / Do BEGIN blocks return their evaluated content? by dynamo (Chaplain) on Dec 22, 2007 at 01:51 UTC
Why? I have no legitimate reason - it just seemed to be a good idea, and a weird programming paradigm if allowed.	[reply]
Re: Can / Do BEGIN blocks return their evaluated content? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Dec 22, 2007 at 06:14 UTC
Interesting, but it would need a new syntax that doesn't involve `BEGIN`. `BEGIN { }` is short for `sub BEGIN { }`, and while you can define subroutines within an expressions, they must be unnamed.	[reply] [d/l] [select]