PRECEDENCE
Associativity Precedence left terms and list operators (leftward) left -> nonassoc ++ -- right ** right ! ~ \ and unary + and - left =~ !~ left * / % x left + - . left << >> nonassoc named unary operators, filetest operators nonassoc < > <= >= lt gt le ge nonassoc == != <=> eq ne cmp ~~ left & left | ^ left && left || // nonassoc .. ... right ?: right = += -= *= etc. left , => nonassoc list operators (rightward) right not left and left or xor
OPERATORS
"X"
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the double quote operator (aka the interpolating string operator). It creates a string literal out of X. If a scalar, array, or an index into a array or hash is in X, the value of that variable is inserted into the string in place if the variable. Arrays are formated using $":
my $interpolated_value = join $", @array;
To place a " inside the string, you must escape it with \:
my $quote = "He said \"I like quotes.\"";
There are many special escapes such as \t for tab and \n for newline, as well as a generalized form of escape that uses Unicode ordinal numbers:
my $string = "Please provide references with your r\x{e9}sum\x{e9}.";
Here \x{e9} creates the character associated with the ordinal number 233 (0xe9 in hexadecimal) in Unicode: LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE.
For a full discussion of how strings work, see Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Example
my $name = "World"; my $string = "Hello, $name!\n"; #$string is now "Hello World!\n";
See also
qq(X), 'X', q(X), $" in perlvar, and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop
qq(X)
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the generalized double quote operator (aka the generalized interpolating string operator). It creates a string literal out of X. If a scalar, array, or an index into a array or hash is in X, the value of that variable is inserted into the string in place if the variable. Arrays are formated using $":
my $interpolated_value = join $", @array;
The delimiters () are chosen by the user and may consist of either bracketing characters (qq<>, qq(), qq{}, and qq[]) or matching characters (qq##, qqaa, etc.). It is generally used to allow the user to avoid having to escape characters:
my $quote = qq/He said "I like quotes."/;
If the delimiter is not a bracketing pair, or if the brackets are unbalanced, you will need to escape the delimiter with \ if you wish to have that character in the string:
my $quote = qq{I have too many \} characters};
But it is often better to just choose a delimiter that does not conflict with the string:
my $better = qq/I have too many } characters/;
There are many special escapes such as \t for tab and \n for newline, as well as a generalized form of escape that uses Unicode ordinal numbers:
my $string = qq{provide references with your r\x{e9}sum\x{e9}.};
Here \x{e9} creates the character associated with the ordinal number 233 (0xe9 in hexadecimal) in Unicode: LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE.
For a full discussion of how strings work, see Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Example
my $name = "World"; my $string = qq/Hello, $name!\n/; #$string is now "Hello World!\n";
See also
q(X), 'X' "X", $" in perlvar, and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop
'X'
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the single quote operator (aka the non-interpolating string operator). It creates a string literal out of X.
To place a ' inside the string, you must escape it with \:
my $quote = 'He said \'I like quotes.\'';
To place a \ inside the string, you may escape it with another \:
my $quote = 'This is a backslash: \\';
but this is only necessary when the \ is followed by the closing single quote. Unlike double quoted strings, single quoted strings only recognize those two escape sequences
For a full discussion of how strings work, see Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Example
my $name = 'World'; my $string = 'Hello, $name!\n'; #$string is now "Hello \$name!\n";
See also
"X", qq(X), q(X), $" in perlvar, and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop
q(X)
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the generalized single quote operator (aka the generalized non-interpolating string operator). It creates a string literal out of X.
The delimiters () are chosen by the user and may consist of either bracketing characters (q<>, q(), q{}, and q[]) or matching characters (q##, qaa, etc.). It is generally used to allow the user to avoid having to escape characters:
my $quote = q/He said 'I like quotes.'/;
If the delimiter is not a bracketing pair, or if the brackets are unbalanced, you will need to escape the delimiter with \ if you wish to have that character in the string:
my $quote = q{I have too many \} characters};
But it is often better to just choose a delimiter that does not conflict with the string:
my $better = q/I have too many } characters/;
Unlike double quoted strings, the escaping of the delimiter is the only escape.
For a full discussion of how strings work, see Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Example
my $name = "World"; my $string = q/Hello, $name!\n/; #$string is now "Hello \$name!\n";
See also
"X", 'X', qq(X), $" in perlvar, and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop
qw(X)
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the quote word operator. It creates a list of strings. The individual strings are whitespace separated. It does not interpolate.
The delimiters () are chosen by the user and may consist of either bracketing characters (qw<>, qw(), qw{}, and qw[]) or matching characters (qw##, qwaa, etc.). It is generally used to allow the user to avoid having to escape characters:
my @list = qw/'a' 'b' 'c'/; #@list is now ("'a'", "'b'", "'c'")
If the delimiter is not a bracketing pair, or if the brackets are unbalanced, you will need to escape the delimiter with \ if you wish to have that character in the string:
my @broken = qw{I have too many } characters}; #broken
my @works = qw{I have too many \} characters}; #works
my @balanced = qw{this works {} because it is balanced} #works
But it is often better to just choose a delimiter that does not conflict with the string:
my $better = qw/I have too many } characters/;
Unlike double quoted strings, the escaping of the delimiter is the only escape.
Example
my @a = qw/ a b c /; #@a is now ("a", "b", "c")
my @b = qw/ $foo $bar /; #@b is now ('$foo', '$bar')
See Also
'X', q(X), and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop
X[Y]
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop and Quote and Quote-like Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the array index operator. Indexes are 0 based (unless $[ has been set to a non-zero value). Negative indexes count backwards from the end of the list or array.
If X's sigil is $, then the expression Y is placed in scalar context when it is evaluated and then treated as a number, so, it is converted to a number before it is used. If it cannot be converted then it is turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on). It returns the Yth item from X.
If X's sigil is @ instead, then the expression Y is placed in list context when it is evaluated and each item in the resulting list is then treated as a number, so, they are converted to a number before it is used. Each one will be turned into 0 if it cannot be converted (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on). It returns a list of items from the array X at the indexes in the list generated by Y.
Example
my @a = ("a", "b", "c", "d");
my $x = $a[2]; #$x is now equal to "c"
my $y = $a[-3]; #$y is now equal to "b"
my @b = @a[1, 2]; #@b is now ("b", "c")
$a[2] = 'e'; #@a is now ('a', 'b', 'e', 'd')
@b[0, 1] = @b[1, 0]; #swap values @b is now ('c', 'b')
See also
(X)[Y]
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop.
Description
This is the list index operator. The expression Y is placed in list context when it is evaluated and each item in the resulting list is then treated as a number, so, they are converted to a number before it is used. Each one will be turned into 0 if it cannot be converted (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on). It returns a list of items from the list X at the indexes in the list generated by Y.
Example
my $i = 4;
my $x = ("a" .. "z")[$i]; #$x is now "e"
my $y = ("a" .. "z")[-$i]; #$y is now "w"
my @a = ("a" .. "z")[0 .. $i]; #@a is now ("a", "b", "c", "d", "e")
my @b = ("a" .. "z")[1, 0, 3]; #@b is now ("b", "a", "d")
See also
X{Y}
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop.
Description
This is the hash index operator. It retrieves the value associated with the key Y from X. If Y is a list of keys then a slice is returned (see perldata for information about slices).
Example
my %h = (a => 1, b => 2, c => 3);
my $x = $h{c}; #$x is now 3
my @a = @h{"a", "b"}; #@a is now (1, 2)
$h{d} = 4; #%h is now (a => 1, b => 2, c => 3, d => 4)
@h{qw/a d/} = (0, 1); #%h is now (a => 0, b => 1, c => 3, d => 4)
See also
[Y]">X->[Y]
Class
This belongs to The Arrow Operator in perlop.
Description
This is the infix array dereferencing operator (AKA The Arrow Operator). It fetches the value at position Y in an array reference returned by the expression X. When dealing with multiple levels of dereferencing (such as with a reference to an array of arrays) only the first level requires the arrow operator.
If X does not evaluate to an array reference, then a runtime error occurs.
Example
my @a = ("a", "b", "c");
my $aref = \@a;
my $x = $aref->[1]; #$x is now "b"
$aref->[4] = "d"; #@a is now ("a", "b", "c", "d")
my $aoa = [
[0, 1, 2 ],
["a", "b", "c"],
];
my $y = $aoa->[1][1]; #$y is now "b"
See also
\X, @{X}, ${X}[Y], perlreftut, and perlref
{Y}">X->{Y}
Class
This belongs to The Arrow Operator in perlop.
Description
This is the infix hash dereferencing operator (AKA The Arrow Operator). It fetches the value associated with the key Y in a hash reference returned by the expression X. When dealing with multiple levels of dereferencing (such as with a reference to a hash of hashes) only the first level requires the arrow operator.
If X does not evaluate to a hash reference, then a runtime error occurs.
Example
my %h = (a => 1, b => 2, c => 3);
my $href = \%h;
my $x = $href->{b}; #$x is now 2
$href->{d} = 4; #%h is now (a => 1, b => 2, c => 3, d => 4)
my $hoh = {
a => { a => 1, b => 2, c => 3 }
b => { a => 4, b => 5, c => 6 }
};
my $y = $hoh->{a}{b}; #$y is now 2
See also
\X, %{X}, ${X}{Y}, perlreftut, and perlref
(Y)">X->(Y)
Class
This belongs to The Arrow Operator in perlop.
Description
This is the infix dereferencing function call operator (AKA The Arrow Operator). It calls the function referred to by X with the arguments Y. When dealing with multiple levels of dereferencing (such as with a reference to a hash of functions) only the first level requires the arrow operator; however, it is recommended you do not use this feature as it tends to cause confusion.
If X does not evaluate to a code reference, then a runtime error occurs.
Example
my $sub = sub {
my ($arg1, $arg2, $arg3) = @_;
print "$arg1 = $arg2 + $arg3\n";
};
my $href = {
func => $sub,
};
$sub->("a", "b", "c"); #prints "a = b + c\n"
$href->{func}(1, 2, 3); #prints "1 = 2 + 3\n"
See also
\X, perlsub, perlreftut, and perlref
${X}
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop.
Description
If X is the name of a scalar variable, then this is just another way of saying $X. This form is handy during interpolation when the name of a variable would be ambiguous:
my $base = "foo";
my $s = "${base}bar"; #$s is now "foobar"
When X is an expression, this is the scalar dereferencing operator. If X evaluates to a scalar reference then the value of the referenced item it returned. If X does not evaluate to a scalar reference a runtime error occurs. If X is a simple scalar variable the braces are unnecessary.
If strict is turned off, and it shouldn't be, and X evaluates to a string then ${X} returns a scalar variable whose name is the same as the string.
Example
my $x = 5;
my $sref = \$x;
my @a = ($sref);
$$sref = 6; #$x is now 6
${$a[0]} = 7; #$x is now 7
no strict "refs";
my $bad = "x";
$$bad = 8; #$x is now 8
See also
\X, perlreftut, and perlref
${X}[Y]
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop.
Description
If X is the name of an array variable, then this is just another way of saying $X[Y].
When X is an expression, this is the indexing array dereferencing operator. If X evaluates to an array reference then it returns value of the Yth item of the referenced array. If X does not evaluate to an array reference a runtime error occurs. If X is a simple scalar variable the braces are unnecessary. The use of this operator is discouraged, see the X->[Y] operator for a better solution.
If strict is turned off, and it shouldn't be, and X evaluates to a string then ${X}[Y] returns the Yth item from the array whose name is the same as the string.
Example
my @a = qw(a b c);
my $aref = \@a;
${$aref}[0] = 1; #@a is now (1, "b", "c");
no strict "refs";
my $bad = "a";
${$bad}[5] = "d"; #@a is now (1, "b", "c", undef, undef, "d")
See also
\X, X->[Y], perlreftut, and perlref
${X}{Y}
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop.
Description
If X is the name of a hash variable, then this is just another way of saying $X{Y}.
When X is an expression, this is the indexing hash dereferencing operator. If X evaluates to an hash reference then it returns value associated with the key Y of the referenced hash. If X does not evaluate to an hash reference a runtime error occurs. If X is a simple scalar variable the braces are unnecessary. The use of this operator is discouraged, see the X->{Y} operator for a better solution.
If strict is turned off, and it shouldn't be, and X evaluates to a string then ${X}{Y} returns the value associated with the key Y from the hash whose name is the same as the string.
Example
my %h = (a => 1, b => 2, c => 3);
my $href = \%h;
${$href}{a} = 4; #%h is now (a => 4, b => 2, c => 3);
no strict "refs";
my $bad = "h";
${$bad}{d} = 4; #%h is now (a => 4, b => 2, c => 3, d => 4);
See also
\X, X->{Y}, perlreftut, and perlref
@{X}
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop.
Description
If X is the name of an array variable then this is just another way of saying @X. This form is handy during interpolation when the name of a variable would be ambiguous:
my @a = (1 .. 5);
my $x = "@{a}bar"; #$x is now "1 2 3bar"
When X is an expression, this is the array dereferencing operator. If X evaluates to a array reference then the value of the referenced item is returned. If X does not evaluate to a array reference a runtime error occurs. If X is a simple scalar variable the braces are unnecessary.
If strict is turned off, and it shouldn't be, and X evaluates to a string then @{X} returns an array variable whose name is the same as the string.
Example
my @a;
my $aref = \@a;
my @b = ($aref);
@$aref = (1, 2, 3); #@a is now (1, 2, 3)
@{$b[0]} = (4, 5, 6); #@a is now (4, 5, 6)
no strict "refs";
my $bad = "a";
@{$bad}[0,1] = 8; #$x is now 8
See also
\X, perlreftut, and perlref
%{X}
Class
This belongs to Terms and List Operators (Leftward) in perlop.
Description
If X is the name of an array variable then this is just another way of saying %X.
When X is an expression, this is the hash dereferencing operator. If X evaluates to a hash reference then the value of the referenced item is returned. If X does not evaluate to a hash reference a runtime error occurs. If X is a simple scalar variable the braces are unnecessary.
If strict is turned off, and it shouldn't be, and X evaluates to a string then @{X} returns an array variable whose name is the same as the string.
Example
my %h;
my $href = \%h;
my @a = ($href);
%$href = (a => 1); #%h is now (a => 1)
no strict "refs";
my $bad = "h";
@{$bad}{"c", "d"} = (3, 4); #%h is now (a => 1, c => 3, d => 4)
See also
\X, perlreftut, and perlref
++X
Class
This belongs to Auto-increment and Auto-decrement in perlop.
Description
This is the prefix auto-increment operator. It is roughly equivalent to X = X + 1, but there is a bit of extra magic to it. If you increment a variable that is numeric, or that has ever been used in a numeric context, you get a normal increment. If, however, the variable has been used in only string contexts since it was set, and has a value that is not the empty string and matches the pattern /^[a-zA-Z]*[0-9]*\z/, the increment is done as a string, preserving each character within its range, with carry:
print ++($foo = "99"); # prints "100" print ++($foo = "a0"); # prints "a1" print ++($foo = "Az"); # prints "Ba" print ++($foo = "zz"); # prints "aaa"
undef is always treated as numeric, and in particular is changed to 0 before incrementing (so that a post-increment of an undef value will return 0 rather than undef).
The incrementing occurs before the use of the value.
Example
my $x = 4; my $y = ++$x; #$x and $y are now 5 my $s = "a"; my $t = ++$s; #$s and $t are now "b"
See also
X++
Class
This belongs to Auto-increment and Auto-decrement in perlop.
Description
This is the postfix auto-increment operator. It behaves the same way as the prefix auto-increment operator ++X, including the magic, but the value is taken before the incrementing is done. So, the after the following code $x will be 5 and $y will be 4. Whereas with the prefix auto-increment operator, both values would be 5.
Example
my $x = 4; my $y = $x++; #$x is now 5 and $y is now 4 my $s = "a"; my $t = $s++; #$s is now "b" and $t is now "a"
See also
--X
Class
This belongs to Auto-increment and Auto-decrement in perlop.
Description
This is the prefix auto-decrement operator. It is equivalent to X = X - 1. The value returned is reflects the decrementing, so after the following code runs, $x and $y will be 4.
X will be converted to a number before decrementing, and if it cannot be converted it will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 5; my $y = --$x; #$x and $y are now 4 my $s = "foo"; my $t = --$s; #$s and $t are now -1
See also
X--
Class
This belongs to Auto-increment and Auto-decrement in perlop.
Description
This is the postfix auto-decrement operator. It is equivalent to X = X - 1. The value returned is the value before decrementing, so after the following code runs, $x will be 4 and $y will be 5.
X will be converted to a number before the operation, and if it cannot be converted it will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 5; my $y = $x--; #$x is now 4 and $y is now 5 my $q = "200 Quatloos for the newcomer"; my $r = $q--; #$q is now 199 and $r is "200 Quatloos for the newcomer" my $s = "foo"; my $t = $s--; #$s is now -1 and $t is "foo"
See also
X ** Y
Class
This belongs to Exponentiation in perlop
Description
This is the exponentiation operator. It raises X to the Yth power. Warning: it binds more tightly than unary minus, so -2**4 is -(2**4), not (-2)**4.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 2 ** 8; #$x is now 256 my $y = log(2 ** 8)/log(2); #$y is now 8; my $s = 2 ** "foo"; #$s is now 1 (2 ** 0 is 1) my $t = 2 ** "4ever"; #$t is now 16
See also
!X
Class
This belongs to Symbolic Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the high-precedence logical negation operator. It performs logical negation, i.e., "not". If X is a true value it returns an empty string, otherwise it returns 1. There is a low-precedence version: not.
It is occasionally used in pairs (!!) to convert any false value to "" and any true value to 1.
Example
my $m = !5; #$m is now the empty string ("")
my $n = !0; #$n is now 1
my $o = !""; #$o is now 1
my $p = !undef; #$p is now 1
my $q = !!5; #$q is now 1
my $r = !!0; #$r is now ""
my $s = !!""; #$s is now ""
my $t = !!undef; #$t is now ""
See also
~X
Class
This belongs to Symbolic Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the bitwise negation operator (AKA 1's complement operator). The width of the result is platform-dependent: ~0 is 32 bits wide on a 32-bit platform, but 64 bits wide on a 64-bit platform, so if you are expecting a certain bit width, remember to use the & operator to mask off the excess bits.
X will be converted to a number before the operation, and if it cannot be converted it will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = ~0x00_00_00_00 #$x is now 0xFF_FF_FF_FF on 32-bit machines
See also
Bitwise String Operators in perlop and Integer Arithmetic in perlop
\X
Class
This belongs to Symbolic Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the backslash operator (AKA the reference operator). If X is a variable, function, or a scalar literal, then it creates a reference to X. If X is a list, then it creates a list of references to the items in the list.
Example
my $c = \1024; #$c is now a reference to the literal 1024
my $s = 5;
my $sref = \$s; #$sref is now a reference to $s
$$sref = 6; #$s is now 6
my @a = (1, 2, 3);
my $aref = \@a; #$aref is now a reference to @a
$aref->[0] = 5; #@a is now (5, 2, 3)
push @$aref, 6; #@a is now (5, 2, 3, 6)
my %h = (a => 1, b => 2, c => 3);
my $href = \%h; #$href is now a reference to %h
$href->{b} = 5; #%h is now (a => 1, b => 5, c => 3)
my @keys = keys %$href; #@keys is now ("a", "b", "c")
sub foo {
return join "|", @_;
}
my $coderef = \&foo;
my $x = $coderef->(1, 2, 3); #$x is now "1|2|3";
my $y = &$coderef(4, 5, 6); #$y is now "4|5|6";
#@refs now holds references to $s, @a, and %h
my @refs = \($s, @a, %h);
See also
X->[Y], X->{Y}, X->(Y), perlreftut, and perlref
+X
Class
This belongs to Symbolic Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the unary plus operator. It has no effect whatsoever, even on strings. It is useful syntactically for separating a function name from a parenthesized expression that would otherwise be interpreted as the complete list of function arguments.
Example
print (split ",", "a,b,c,d")[2], "\n"; #syntax error print +(split ",", "a,b,c,d")[2], "\n"; #prints "c\n"
See also
-X
Class
This belongs to Symbolic Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
The unary minus operator performs arithmetic negation if X is numeric.
If X is a bareword it returns a string consisting of - and the bareword.
If X is a string that starts with a character that matches /[_a-zA-Z]/ it returns a string consisting of - followed by the original string.
If X begins with - or + then the first character is converted to the opposite sign.
In all other cases, X will be converted to a number before the operation, and if it cannot be converted it will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 10;
$x = -$x; #$x is now -10
$x = -$x; #$x is now 10 again
my $y = -option; #$y is now "-option"
my $z = -"foo": #$z is now "-foo"
$z = -$z; #$z is now "+foo"
$z = -$z; #$z is now "-foo"
$z = -"*foo" #$z is now -0
$x = "\x{e9}"; #$x is now e acute
$x = -$x; #$x is now -0 because e acute is not in [_a-zA-Z]
See also
X =~ Y
Class
This belongs to Binding Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the binding operator. It applies a regex match (m//), substitution (s///), or transliteration (tr/// or y///) Y against a string X. When used in scalar context, the return value generally indicates the success of the operation. Behavior in list context depends on the particular operator. See Regexp Quote-Like Operators in perlop for details and perlretut for examples using these operators.
If Y is an expression rather than a search pattern, substitution, or transliteration, it is interpreted as a search pattern at run time. Note that this means that its contents will be interpolated twice, so
"\\" =~ "\\";
is not ok, as the regex engine will end up trying to compile the pattern \, which it will consider a syntax error.
Example
my $x = "foo bar baz";
#prints "matched\n"
if ($x =~ /foo/) {
print "matched\n";
}
See also
X !~ Y
Class
This belongs to Binding Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the negative binding operator. It behaves like the =~ operator, but the return is logically negated.
Example
#prints "matched\n"
if ("foo bar baz" !~ /foo/) {
print "didn't match\n";
} else {
print "matched\n";
}
See also
X * Y
Class
This belongs to Multiplicative Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the multiplication operator. It returns X multiplied by Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 2 * 21; #$x is now 42 my $y = 2 * "five"; #$y is now 0 (2 * 0) my $z = 2 * "80s"; #$z is now 160
See also
X / Y
Class
This belongs to Multiplicative Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the division operator. It divides X by Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Warning: If Y is 0 or evaluates to 0 the program will die with a message like Illegal division by zero.
Example
my $x = 84/2; #$x is now 42 my $y = 84/"2"; #$y is now 42 my $z = "five"/2 #$z is now 0 (0/2)
See Also
X % Y
Class
This belongs to Multiplicative Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the modulo operator. It computes the remainder of X divided by Y. The remainder is determined differently depending on the whether the numbers are integers or floating point and whether they are positive or negative.
Given integer operands X and Y: If Y is positive, then "X % Y" is X minus the largest multiple of Y less than or equal to X. If Y is negative, then "X % Y" is X minus the smallest multiple of Y that is not less than X (i.e. the result will be less than or equal to zero). To illustrate this, here are the results of modding -9 through 9 with 4:
when X is -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 result is 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1
And here is -9 through 9 modded with -4:
when X is -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 result is -1 0 -3 -2 -1 0 -3 -2 -1 0 -3 -2 -1 0 -3 -2 -1 0 -3
From this we can see a positive Y constrains X to a range from 0 to (Y - 1) that wraps around and a negative Y constrains X to a range from (Y + 1) to 0.
When Y is a floating point number whose absolute value is in the range of 0 to (UV_MAX + 1) (where UV_MAX is the maximum of the unsigned integer type) X and Y are truncated to integers. If the absolute value of Y is larger than (UV_MAX + 1) then the formula (X - I * Y) (where I is a certain integer that makes the result have the same sign as Y). For example, on 32-bit systems 4.5 % (2 ** 32 - 1) is 4, but 4.5 % 2 ** 32 is 4.5.
Note: when the integer pragma is in scope % gives you direct access to the modulo operator as implemented by your C compiler. This operator is not as well defined for negative operands, but it will execute faster.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Warning: If Y is 0 or evaluates to 0 the program will die with a message like Illegal modulus zero.
Example
my $odd = $x % 2; #$odd is 1 when $x is odd and 0 when $x is even my $hour = ($hour + 1) % 24; # 23 (11pm) plus 1 hour is 0 (12am). my $x = "foo" % 3; #$x is now 0 (0 % 3) my $y = "5" % 4; #$y is now 1
See also
X x Y
Class
This belongs to Multiplicative Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the repetition operator. When X is a scalar value it returns a string made up of X repeated Y times. When X is a list it returns a list made up of X repeated Y times. If Y is less than 1 an empty string is returned.
Y will be converted to a number before the operation, and if it cannot be converted it will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = "abc" x 3; #$x is now the string "abcabcabc"
my @a = ("abc") x 3; #@a is now ("abc", "abc", "abc")
my $s = "abcd" x "a"; #$s is now "" ("abcd" x 0)
my $t = "abcd" x "2"; #$t is now "abddabcd"
X + Y
Class
This belongs to Additive Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the addition operator. It returns the result of X plus Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 40 + 2; #$x is now 42 my $y = 40 + "a"; #$y is now 40 (40 + 0) my $y = 40 + "2"; #$y is now 42
See also
X - Y
Class
This belongs to Additive Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the subtraction operator. It returns the result of X minus Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 100 - 58; #$x is now 42 my $y = 100 - "five"; #$y is now 100 (100 - 0) my $z = 100 - "58"; #$z is now 42
See also
X . Y
Class
This belongs to Additive Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the concatenation operator. It coerces its arguments to strings, then returns a new string that begins with X and ends with Y. It forces scalar context on X and Y.
Example
my @a = (1 .. 10); my $x = "foo" . "bar"; #$x is now "foobar" my $y = "the number of elements in \@a is" . @a;
See also
X <<>
Class
This belongs to Shift Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the left bit-shift operator. It shift bits that make up the integer X Y places to the left. If X is not an integer it will be converted into one before the operation begins.
New bits added to the right side are all 0. Overflowing the integer type on you platform (i.e. creating a number too large to store in your platform's integer type) results in behavior that is not well defined (i.e. it is platform specific). When Y is negative the results are also not well defined. This is because the left bit-shift operator is implemented by the native C compiler's left bit-shift operator (and those operations are not defined by ISO C).
Shifting 1 bit to the left is the same as multiplying the number by 2.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
#on 32-bit machines my $x = 0xFF_00_FF_00 << 8; #$x is now not well defined #on 64-bit machines my $y = 0xFF_00_FF_00 << 8; #$y is now 0xFF_00_FF_00_00 my $z = 6 << 1; #$z is now 12
See also
>-Y">X >> Y
Class
This belongs to Shift Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the right-bit shift operator. It shift bits that make up the integer X Y places to the right. If X is not an integer it will be converted into one before the operation begins. Bits shifted past the rightmost edge are lost. New bits added to the left side are all 0. Shifting to the right one bit is the same as an integer division by 2.
When Y is negative the results are not well defined (i.e. platform specific). This is because the right bit-shift operator is implemented by the native C compiler's right bit-shift operator (and that is not defined by ISO C).
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 0x00_FF_00_FF >> 8; #$x is now 0x00_00_FF_00 my $y = 12 >> 1; #$y is now 6
See also
-r FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the effective uid/gid readable filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is readable by the effective uid/gid, "" if it exists but if it not readable, or undef if the file does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -r "/etc/passwd") {
if (-r _) {
print "/etc/passwd is readable\n";
} else {
print "/etc/passwd is not readable\n";
}
} else {
print "/etc/passwd doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
$> in perlvar, $) in perlvar, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-w FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the effective uid/gid writable filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is writable by the effective uid/gid, "" if it exists but if it not writable, or undef if the file does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -w "/etc/passwd") {
if (-w _) {
print "/etc/passwd is writable\n";
} else {
print "/etc/passwd is not writable\n";
}
} else {
print "/etc/passwd doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
$> in perlvar, $) in perlvar, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-x FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the effective uid/gid executable filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is executable by the effective uid/gid, "" if it exists but if it not executable, or undef if the file does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -x $0) {
if (-x _) {
print "this script is executable\n";
} else {
print "this script is not executable\n";
}
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}
See also
$> in perlvar, $) in perlvar, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-o FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the effective owner filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is owned by the effective uid, "" if it exists but if it not owned by the effective uid, or undef if the file does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -o $0) {
if (-o _) {
print "this script is owned by $>\n";
} else {
print "this script is not owned by $>\n";
}
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}
See also
$> in perlvar, $) in perlvar, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-R FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the real uid/gid readable filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is readable by the real uid/gid, "" if it exists but if it not readable, or undef if the file does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -R "/etc/passwd") {
if (-R _) {
print "/etc/passwd is readable\n";
} else {
print "/etc/passwd is not readable\n";
}
} else {
print "/etc/passwd doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
$< in perlvar, $( in perlvar, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-W FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the real uid/gid writable filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is writable by the real uid/gid, "" if it exists but if it not writable, or undef if the file does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -W "/etc/passwd") {
if (-W _) {
print "/etc/passwd is writable\n";
} else {
print "/etc/passwd is not writable\n";
}
} else {
print "/etc/passwd doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
$< in perlvar, $( in perlvar, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-X FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the real uid/gid executable filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is executable by the real uid/gid, "" if it exists but if it not executable, or undef if the file does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -X $0) {
if (-X _) {
print "this script is executable\n";
} else {
print "this script is not executable\n";
}
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}
See also
$< in perlvar, $( in perlvar, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-O FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the real owner filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is owned by the real uid, "" if it exists but if it not owned by the effective uid, or undef if the file does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -O $0) {
if (-O _) {
print "this script is owned by $>\n";
} else {
print "this script is not owned by $>\n";
}
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}
See also
$< in perlvar, $( in perlvar, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-e FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the existence filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists or undef if the file or directory does not exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (-e $0) {
print "this script exists\n";
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-z FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the empty filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and has zero size, "" if the file or directory exists, but has zero size, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -z "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-z _) {
print "somefile is empty\n";
} else {
print "somefile has data in it\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-s FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the size filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns the size of the file in bytes if the file or directory exists or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -s "/tmp/somefile") {
print "somefile is ", -s _, " byte(s) long\n";
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-f FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the regular file filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and is a regular file, "" if the file or directory exists, but isn't a regular file, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -f "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-f _) {
print "somefile is a regular file\n";
} else {
print "somefile is not a regular file\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-d FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the directory filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the directory exists , "" if the file exists, but isn't a directory file, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -d "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-d _) {
print "somefile is a directory\n";
} else {
print "somefile is not a directory\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-l FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the symbolic link filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file or directory exists and is a symbolic link, "" if the file or directory exists, but isn't a symbolic link, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -l "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-l _) {
print "somefile is a symbolic link\n";
} else {
print "somefile is not a symbolic link\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-p FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the pipe filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and is a pipe, "" if the file or directory exists, but isn't a pipe, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -p "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-p _) {
print "somefile is a pipe\n";
} else {
print "somefile is not a pipe\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
if (-p STDOUT) {
print "we are piping to another program\n";
} else {
print "we are not piping to another program\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-S FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the socket filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and is a socket, "" if the file or directory exists, but isn't a socket, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -S "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-S _) {
print "somefile is a socket\n";
} else {
print "somefile is not a socket\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-b FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the block special filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and is a block special file, "" if the file or directory exists, but isn't a block special file, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -b "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-b _) {
print "somefile is a block special file\n";
} else {
print "somefile is not a block special file\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-c FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the character special filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and is a character special file, "" if the file or directory exists, but isn't a character special file, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -c "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-c _) {
print "somefile is a character special file\n";
} else {
print "somefile is not a character special file\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-t FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the socket filetest operator. FILE must be a filehandle or an expression that returns one. It returns 1 if the filehandle is opened to a tty or undef if it is not.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
Example
if (-t STDOUT) {
print "output is going to a console\n";
} else {
print "output is being redirected\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-u FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the setuid filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and has its setuid set, "" if the file or directory exists, but its setuid isn't set, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -u "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-u _) {
print "somefile has setuid set\n";
} else {
print "somefile dosn't have setuid set\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-g FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the setgid filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and has its setgid set, "" if the file or directory exists, but its setgid isn't set, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -u "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-u _) {
print "somefile has setgid set\n";
} else {
print "somefile dosn't have setgid set\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-k FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the sticky bit filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and has its sticky bit set, "" if the file or directory exists, but its sticky bit isn't set, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -k "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-k _) {
print "somefile has sticky bit set\n";
} else {
print "somefile dosn't have sticky bit set\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-T FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the ASCII text filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and appears to be a text file, "" if the file or directory exists, but doesn't appear to be a text file, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If X is a filename, it guesses the type of the file by reading the first block from the file. If the first block doesn't contain any nul characters (i.e. \0) and it contains fewer than thirty percent control characters or characters that have their high bits set, then it is considered an ASCII text file.
If X is a filehandle it guess the type the same way, but uses the current IO buffer instead of the first block.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -T "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-T _) {
print "somefile looks like a text file\n";
} else {
print "somefile lokks like a data file\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-B, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-B FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the binary filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns 1 if the file exists and appears to be a binary file, "" if the file or directory exists, but doesn't appear to be a binary file, or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If X is a filename, it guesses the type of the file by reading the first block from the file. If the first block contains any nul characters (i.e. \0) or it contains more than thirty percent control characters or characters that have their high bits set, then it is considered a binary file.
If X is a filehandle it guess the type the same way, but uses the current IO buffer instead of the first block.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
Example
if (defined -B "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-B _) {
print "somefile lokks like a data file\n";
} else {
print "somefile looks like a text file\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
-T, -X in perlfunc and stat in perlfunc
-M FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the mtime filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns the script start time minus file modification time, in days, if the file or directory exists or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
The script start time is stored in $^T, so modifying this variable will have an affect on the results of calling -M on a file.
Example
if (-M "somefile") {
print "it has been ", -M _, " days since somefile was modified\n";
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
$^T in perlvar, -X in perlfunc, and stat in perlfunc
-A FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the atime filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns the script start time minus file access time, in days, if the file or directory exists or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
The script start time is stored in $^T, so modifying this variable will have an affect on the results of calling -A on a file.
Warning: many filesystems now turn off atime updating.
Example
if (-A "somefile") {
print "it has been ", -A _, " days since somefile was accessed\n";
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
$^T in perlvar, -X in perlfunc, and stat in perlfunc
-C FILE
Class
This belongs to Named Unary Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the ctime filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, dirhandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns the script start time minus the ctime of the file, in days, if the file or directory exists or undef if the file or directory doesn't exist.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
The script start time is stored in $^T, so modifying this variable will have an affect on the results of calling -A on a file.
Warning, different filesystems have different ideas about what the ctime is. In Unix, the ctime is the inode change time. The ctime is updated when a change occurs to the file's inode (permissions change, ownership change, etc.).
Example
if (-A "somefile") {
print "it has been ", -A _, " days since somefile was accessed\n";
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}
See also
$^T in perlvar, -X in perlfunc, and stat in perlfunc
X <>
Class
This belongs to Relational Operators in perlop
Description
This is the numeric less than operator. It returns a true value if X is numerically less than Y or a false value if X is greater than or equal to Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
if (4 < 5) {
print "this is true unless Perl is broken\n";
}
if (5 < 4) {
print "this should never be true\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false\n";
}
See also
-Y">X > Y
Class
This belongs to Relational Operators in perlop
Description
This is the numeric greater than operator. It returns a true value if X is numerically greater than Y or a false value if X is less than or equal to Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
if (5 > 4) {
print "this is true unless Perl is broken\n";
}
if (4 > 5) {
print "this should never be true\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false\n";
}
See also
X <= Y
Class
This belongs to Relational Operators in perlop
Description
This is the numeric less than or equal to operator. It returns a true value if X is numerically less than or equal to Y or a false value if X is greater than to Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
if (4 <= 4) {
print "this is true unless Perl is broken\n";
}
if (5 <= 4) {
print "this should never be true\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false\n";
}
See also
=-Y">X >= Y
Class
This belongs to Relational Operators in perlop
Description
This is the numeric less than or equal to operator. It returns a true value if X is numerically less than or equal to Y or a false value if X is greater than to Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
if (4 >= 4) {
print "this is true unless Perl is broken\n";
}
if (4 >= 5) {
print "this should never be true\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false\n";
}
See also
X lt Y
Class
This belongs to Relational Operators in perlop
Description
This is the lexical less than operator (also known as the string less than operator or the stringwise less than operator). It returns true if X is less than Y and false if X is greater than or equal to Y. The order of various characters is locale dependent. The default order is determined by the Unicode ordinal value (since Unicode contains the ASCII set as its first 127 characters, this order is the same as the ASCII order).
Example
if ("a" lt "b") {
print "this is true unless the locale is really weird\n";
}
if ("z" lt "a") {
print "this should never be true (unless the local is weird)\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false (unless the local is weird)\n";
}
See also
X <>, X <= Y, and X le Y X cmp Y
X gt Y
Class
This belongs to Relational Operators in perlop
Description
This is the lexical greater than operator (also known as the string greater than operator or the stringwise greater than operator). It returns true if X is greater than Y and false if X is less than or equal to Y. The order of various characters is locale dependent. The default order is determined by the Unicode ordinal value (since Unicode contains the ASCII set as its first 127 characters, this order is the same as the ASCII order).
Example
if ("b" gt "a") {
print "this is true unless the locale is really weird\n";
}
if ("a" gt "z") {
print "this should never be true (unless the local is weird)\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false (unless the local is weird)\n";
}
See also
X le Y
Class
This belongs to Relational Operators in perlop
Description
This is the lexical less than or equal to operator (also known as the string less than or equal to operator or the stringwise less than or equal to operator). It returns true if X is less than or equal to Y and false if X is greater than Y. The order of various characters is locale dependent. The default order is determined by the Unicode ordinal value (since Unicode contains the ASCII set as its first 127 characters, this order is the same as the ASCII order).
Example
if ("a" le "a") {
print "this is true unless Perl is broken\n";
}
if ("z" le "a") {
print "this should never be true (unless the local is weird)\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false (unless the local is weird)\n";
}
See also
X ge Y
Class
This belongs to Relational Operators in perlop
Description
This is the lexical greater than or equal to operator (also known as the string greater than or equal to operator or the stringwise greater than or equal to operator). It returns true if X is greater than Y and false if X is less than or equal to Y. The order of various characters is locale dependent. The default order is determined by the Unicode ordinal value (since Unicode contains the ASCII set as its first 127 characters, this order is the same as the ASCII order).
Example
if ("a" ge "a") {
print "this is true unless Perl is broken\n";
}
if ("a" ge "z") {
print "this should never be true (unless the local is weird)\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false (unless the local is weird)\n";
}
See also
X > Y, X >= Y, X gt Y, and X cmp Y
X == Y
Class
This belongs to Equality Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the numeric equality operator. It returns true if X and Y evaluate as the same number.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Important note: the numeric equality operator should not be used with floating point numbers as the error introduced by rounding may cause the number to not be exactly what you are comparing against. Always use the less than and greater than operators with a small delta:
my $x = 0;
for (1 .. 10) {
$x += .1;
}
if ($x == 1) {
print "$x is one\n";
} else {
print "oops, darn floating point numbers\n";
}
my $delta = 1e-15; #0.000000000000001
if (
$x < 1 + $delta and
$x > 1 - $delta
) {
print "this time it worked\n";
}
Example
if (5 == 5) {
print "this will be true unless Perl is broken\n"
}
See also
X != Y
Class
This belongs to Equality Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the numeric not equals operator. It returns true if X does not evaluate to the same numeric value as Y.
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Important note: the numeric equality operator should not be used with floating point numbers as the error introduced by rounding may cause the number to not be exactly what you are comparing against. Always use the less than and greater than operators with a small delta:
my $x = 0;
for (1 .. 10) {
$x += .1;
}
if ($x != 1) {
print "oops, darn floating point numbers\n";
}
my $delta = 1e-15; #0.000000000000001
if (
$x > 1 + $delta and
$x < 1 - $delta
) {
print "wow, your floating point representation is really good\n";
} else {
print "this time it worked\n";
}
Example
if (5 != 4) {
print "this will be true unless Perl is broken\n"
}
See also
-Y">X <=> Y
Class
This belongs to Equality Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the numeric comparison operator. It returns less than 0 if X is numerically less than Y, 0 is if X and Y are the same numerically, or more than 0 if X is numerically greater than Y. It is most often seen combined with the sort function:
my @sorted = sort { $a <=> $b } @unsorted;
Both X and Y will be converted to numbers before the operation; if they cannot be converted they will turned into 0 (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on).
Example
my $x = 4 <=> 5; #x is now negative my $y = 5 <=> 5; #y is now 0 my $z = 6 <=> 5; #z is now positive
See also
X eq Y
Class
This belongs to Equality Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the lexical equality operator (aka the string equality operator or the stringwise equality operator). It returns true if X and Y evaluate as the same string.
Example
if ("foo" eq "foo") {
print "this is true, unless Perl is broken\n";
}
if ("foo" eq "bar") {
print "this is should always be false, unless Perl is broken\n";
} else {
print "this is false, unless Perl is broken\n";
}
See also
X ne Y
Class
This belongs to Equality Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the lexical not equals operator. (aka the string not equals operator or the stringwise not equals operator). It returns false if X and Y evaluate as the same string.
Example
if ("foo" ne "bar") {
print "this is true, unless Perl is broken\n";
}
if ("foo" ne "foo") {
print "this is should always be false, unless Perl is broken\n";
} else {
print "this is false, unless Perl is broken\n";
}
See also
X cmp Y
Class
This belongs to Equality Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the lexical comparison operator (also known as the string comparison operator or the stringwise comparison operator). It returns a negative value if X is lexically less than Y, 0 is X and Y are lexically the same, or a positive value if X is lexically larger than Y. This comparison is affected by the current locale and the default order is determined by the Unicode ordinal value (since Unicode contains the ASCII set as its first 127 characters, this order is the same as the ASCII order). It is most commonly seen used with the sort function:
my @sorted = sort { $a cmp $b } @unsorted;
Example
my $x = "a" <=> "b"; #$x is now negative my $y = "b" <=> "b"; #$x is now 0 my $z = "c" <=> "b"; #$x is now positive
See also
X ~~ Y
Class
This belongs to Equality Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the smartmatch operator. In 5.10 and 5.10.1 it has different behavior. See Smart matching in detail in perlsyn for more detail.
Prior to 5.10, it was sometimes used to mean ~(~X) which has the affect of forcing scalar context on X. You should use the scalar function for that purpose instead.
Example
See Smart matching in detail in perlsyn for examples.
See also
~~X, Smart matching in detail in perlsyn, and scalar in perlfunc
X & Y
Class
This belongs to Bitwise And in perlop.
Description
This is the bitwise and operator. It ands together the individual bits of X and Y. The truth table for and is:
X Y R
-----+---
0 0 | 0
0 1 | 0
1 0 | 0
1 1 | 1
That is, it sets the result bit to 1 if both the X and Y bits are 1, otherwise it sets the result bit to 0. This operation is done for every bit in X and Y.
If both operands are strings, they are considered character by character. The result is determined by anding the ordinal value of the characters, so "a" & "b" is equivalent to chr(ord("a") & ord("b")). If X and Y are different sizes, then the longer string is truncated to the length of the shorter string.
Example
#0x4545 is 0b0000_0100_0000_0101_0000_0100_0000_0101 #0x00FF is 0b0000_0000_0000_0000_1111_1111_1111_1111 #0x4545 & 0x00FF is 0b0000_0000_0000_0000_0000_0100_0000_0101 or 0x0045 my $z = 0x4545 & 0x00FF; #$z is now 0x0045 #In ASCII (and UTF-8) #"a" is 0b0110_0001 #"b" is 0b0110_0010 #"a" & "b" is 0b0110_0000 or "`" my $x = "a" & "b"; #$x is now "`"
See also
X and Y, X && Y, Integer Arithmetic in perlop and Bitwise String Operators in perlop.
X | Y
Class
This belongs to Bitwise Or and Exclusive Or in perlop.
Description
This is the bitwise or operator. It ors together the individual bits of X and Y. The truth table for or is:
X Y R
-----+---
0 0 | 0
0 1 | 1
1 0 | 1
1 1 | 1
That is, it sets the result bit to 0 if both the X and Y bits are 0, otherwise it sets the result bit to 1. This operation is done for every bit in X and Y.
If both operands are strings, they are considered character by character. The result is determined by oring the ordinal value of the characters, so "a" | "b" is equivalent to chr(ord("a") | ord("b")). If X and Y are different sizes, then the shorter item is treated as if it had additional bits that are set to 0.
Example
#0x4545 is 0b0000_0100_0000_0101_0000_0100_0000_0101 #0x00FF is 0b0000_0000_0000_0000_1111_1111_1111_1111 #0x4545 | 0x00FF is 0b0000_0100_0000_0101_1111_1111_1111_1111 or 0x45FF my $y = 0x4545 | 0x00FF; #$y is now 0x45FF #In ASCII (and UTF-8) #"a" is 0b0110_0001 #"b" is 0b0110_0010 #"a" | "b" is 0b0110_0011 or "c" my $x = "a" | "b"; #$x is now "c"
See also
X or Y, X xor Y, X || Y, X // Y, X ^ Y, Integer Arithmetic in perlop, and Bitwise String Operators in perlop.
X ^ Y
Class
This belongs to Bitwise Or and Exclusive Or in perlop.
Description
This is the bitwise exclusive-or operator. It exclusive-ors together the individual bits of X and Y. The truth table for exclusive-or is:
X Y R
-----+---
0 0 | 0
0 1 | 1
1 0 | 1
1 1 | 0
That is, it sets the result bit to 1 if X or Y is set, or 0 if both or neither is set. This operation is done for every bit in X and Y.
If both operands are strings, they are considered character by character. The result is determined by exclusive-oring the ordinal value of the characters, so "a" ^ "b" is equivalent to chr(ord("a") ^ ord("b")). If X and Y are different sizes, then the shorter item is treated as if it had additional bits that are set to 0.
Example
#0x4545 is 0b0000_0100_0000_0101_0000_0100_0000_0101
#0x00FF is 0b0000_0000_0000_0000_1111_1111_1111_1111
#0x4545 ^ 0x00FF is 0b0000_0100_0000_0101_1111_1111_1111_1010 or 0x45BA
my $y = 0x4545 ^ 0x00FF; #$y is now 0x45BA
#In ASCII (and UTF-8)
#"a" is 0b0110_0001
#"b" is 0b0110_0010
#"a" ^ "b" is 0b0000_0011 or "\x{03}"
my $x = "a" ^ "b"; #$x is now "\x{03}"
See also
X or Y, X xor Y, X || Y, X // Y, X | Y, Integer Arithmetic in perlop and Bitwise String Operators in perlop.
X && Y
Class
This belongs to C-style Logical And in perlop.
Description
This is the high-precedence logical and operator. It returns X if X evaluates to false, otherwise it returns Y.
It binds more tightly than the low-precedence logical and operator:
my $x = 5 && 4; # is equivalent to my $x = (5 && 4);
whereas:
my $y = 5 and 4; # is equivalent to (my $x = 5) and 4;
It is most commonly used in conditional statements such as if, unless, while.
Example
my $w = ""; my $x = 0; my $y = 1; my $z = "foo"; print $w && $y, "\n"; #prints "\n" print $x && $y, "\n"; #prints "0\n" print $y && $z, "\n"; #prints "foo\n" print $z && $y, "\n"; #prints "1\n"
See also
X || Y
Class
This belongs to C-style Logical Or in perlop.
Description
This is the high-precedence logical or operator. It returns the X if X evaluates to true, otherwise it returns Y.
It binds more tightly than the low-precedence logical or operator:
my $x = 5 || 4; # is equivalent to my $x = (5 || 4);
whereas:
my $y = 5 or 4; # is equivalent to (my $x = 5) or 4;
It is most commonly used in conditional statements such as if, unless, while. It was used in the recent past to create default values:
my %config = get_config();
#set $x to $config{x} unless it is false, in which case set it to 5
my $x = $config{x} || 5;
but this use has the drawback of not respecting a value of 0 or 0.0, since they both evaluate to false. The // operator is now recommend for this purpose since it tests if X is defined, not if it is true.
Example
my $w = ""; my $x = 0; my $y = 1; my $z = "foo"; print $w || $x, "\n"; #prints "0\n"; print $x || $w, "\n"; #prints "\n"; print $w || $y, "\n"; #prints "1\n" print $x || $y, "\n"; #prints "1\n" print $y || $z, "\n"; #prints "1\n" print $z || $y, "\n"; #prints "foo\n"
See also
X or Y, X xor Y, X | Y, X // Y, and X ^ Y
X // Y
Class
This belongs to C-style Logical Defined-Or in perlop.
Description
This is the high-precedence logical defined-or. It returns X if X is defined, otherwise it returns Y. This operator is only available if you have enabled 5.10 features (using the feature pragma or use 5.10).
It is most commonly used to create default values:
my %config = get_config();
#set $x to $config{x} if it is defined, otherwise set it to 5
my $x = $config{x} // 5;
Example
my $x; my $y = 0; my $z = 5; print $x // $y, "\n"; #prints 0 print $y // $z, "\n"; #prints 0 print $z // $y, "\n"; #prints 5
See also
X or Y, X xor Y, X || Y, X | Y, and X ^ Y
X .. Y
Class
This belongs to Range Operators in perlop.
Description
Depending on context, this is either the range operator (if it is list context) or the flip-flop operator (if it is in scalar context).
The range operator creates a list starting with X and ending with Y (i.e. it is inclusive). If Y is less than X then an empty list is returned. If both X and Y are strings, then the auto-magical behavior of X++ is used to generate the list.
The flip-flop operator returns false as long as X is false, once X becomes true it returns true until after Y is true, at which time it returns false. Each flip-flop operator keeps track of its own state separately from the other flip-flop operators.
Note: it is possible for both the X and Y tests to be true at the same time, in which case it will return true and then false on the next test.
Example
my @list = 0 .. 5; #@list is now (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
my @az = "a" .. "z"; #@az is now the lowercase ASCII alphabet
prints "4\n", "5\n", "6\n", "7\n", and "8\n"
for my $i (0 .. 10) {
#start printing when $i is 4 and stop after $i is 8
if ($i == 4 .. $i == 8) {
print "$i\n";
}
}
#prints "4\n"
for my $i (0 .. 10) {
#start printing when $i is 4 and stop after $i is 4
if ($i == 4 .. $i == 8) {
print "$i\n";
}
}
See also
X ... Y
Class
This belongs to Range Operators in perlop.
Description
This is another form of the range/flip flop operator (X .. Y). Its meaning is context dependent.
In list context it creates a list starting with X and ending with Y (i.e. it is inclusive). If Y is less than X then an empty list is returned. If both X and Y are strings, then the auto-magical behavior of X++ is used to generate the list.
In scalar context it returns false as long as X is false, once X becomes true it returns true until after Y is true, at which time it returns false. Each flip-flop operator keeps track of its own state separately from the other flip-flop operators. It only evaluates X or Y each time it called, unlike X .. Y which evaluates both X and Y each time it is called.
Example
my @list = 0 ... 5; #@list is now (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
my @az = "a" ... "z"; #@az is now the lowercase ASCII alphabet
prints "4\n", "5\n", "6\n", "7\n", and "8\n"
for my $i (0 ... 10) {
#start printing when $i is 4 and stop after $i is 8
if ($i == 4 ... $i == 8) {
print "$i\n";
}
}
#prints "4\n", "5\n", "6\n", "7\n", "8\n", "9\n", and "10\n"
for my $i (0 ... 10) {
#start printing when $i is 4 and stop after $i is 4 a second time
if ($i == 4 ... $i == 8) {
print "$i\n";
}
}
See also
X ? Y : Z
Class
This belongs to Conditional Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the conditional operator. It works much like an if-then-else. If the X is true then Y is evaluated and returned otherwise Z is evaluated and returned.
The context it is called in propagates to Y and Z, so if the operator is called in scalar context and X is true then Y will be evaluated in scalar context.
The result of the operator is a valid lvalue (i.e. it can be assigned to). Note, normal rules about lvalues (e.g. you can't assign to constants) still apply.
Example
#simple implementation of max
sub max {
my ($m, $n) = @_;
return $m >= $n ? $m : $n;
}
my $x = max 5, 4; #$x is now 5
my $y = max 4, 5; #$y is now 5
my @a = $x == $y ? (1, 2, 3) : (4, 5, 6); #@a is now (1, 2, 3)
my @b = $x != $y ? (1, 2, 3) : (4, 5, 6); #@b is now (4, 5, 6)
($x == $y ? $x : $y) = 15; #$x is now 15
($x == $y ? $x : $y) = 15; #$y is now 15
See also
Compound-Statements in perlsyn
X = Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
If X is a scalar, then this is the assignment operator. It assigns Y to X. The act of assigning creates an lvalue, that is the result of an assignment can be used in places where you would normally use a plain variable:
my $str = "foobar"; (my $modified = $str) =~ s/foo/bar/; #the substitution affects $modified
If X is a list, then this is the list assignment operator and it provides list context to Y. The first item in the list Y is assigned to the first item in list X, the second to the second, and so on. If placed in scalar context, the return value of list assignment is the number of items in the second list. If placed in list context it returns the list X (after the assignment has taken place).
Example
my $x = 5; #$x is now 5
my $y = 6; #$y is now 6
($x, $y) = ($y, $x); #$x is now 6 and $y is now 5
my $i = my $j = my $k = 10; #$i, $j, and $k are now all 10
my $m = my ($n, $o) = ("a", "b", "c") #$m is now 3
X **= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the exponentiation assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X ** Y
That is it raises the value X to the Yth power and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x **= $y; #$x is now 2 ** 8 or 256
See also
X += Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the addition assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X + Y
That is it adds X and Y together and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x += $y; #$x is now 2 + 8 or 10
See also
X -= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the subtraction assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X - Y
That is it subtracts Y from X and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x -= $y; #$x is now 2 - 8 or -6
See also
X .= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the concatenation assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X . Y
That is it joins the strings X and Y and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x .= $y; #$x is now 2 . 8 or "28"
See also
X *= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the multiplication assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X * Y
That is it multiplies X by Y and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x *= $y; #$x is now 2 * 8 or 16
See also
X /= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the division assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X / Y
That is it divides X by Y and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Warning: If Y is 0 or evaluates to 0 the program will die with a message like Illegal division by zero.
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x /= $y; #$x is now 2 / 8 or 0.25
See also
X %= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the modulo assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X % Y
That is it computes the remainder of X divided by Y and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Warning: If Y is 0 or evaluates to 0 the program will die with a message like Illegal modulus zero.
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x %= $y; #$x is now 2 % 8 or 2
See also
X x= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the scalar repetition assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X x Y
That is it creates a string made up of X repeated Y times and assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Note: this only works for the scalar repetition operator; the list repetition operator ((X) x Y) will not work in this context.
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x x= $y; #$x is now 2 x 8 or "22222222"
See also
X &= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the bitwise and assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X & Y
That is it ands together X and Y and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x &= $y; #$x is now 2 & 8 or 0
See also
X |= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the bitwise or assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X | Y
That is it ors together X and Y and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x |= $y; #$x is now 2 & 8 or 10
See also
X ^= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the bitwise xor assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X ^ Y
That is it xors together X and Y and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x ^= $y; #$x is now 2 & 8 or 10
See also
X <<= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the left bit-shift assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X << Y
That is it bit-shifts X Y places to the left and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x <<= $y; #$x is now 2 << 8 or 512
See also
>=-Y">X >>= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the right bit-shift assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X >> Y
That is it bit-shifts X Y places to the right and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 8; my $y = 2; $x &= $y; #$x is now 8 & 2 or 2
See also
X &&= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the logical and assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X && Y
That is it assigns X to itself if X evaluates to true, otherwise it assigns Y to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; $x &&= $y; #$x is now 2 && 8 or 8 $x &&= 0; #$x is now 8 && 0 or 0 $x &&= 8; #$x is now 0 && 8 or 0
See also
X ||= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the logical or assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X || Y
That is it logically ors together X and Y and then assigns the result to X. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to). It was often used in the past to assign a value if the variable did not already have a value:
my $x; #intervening code that might set $x or might leave it undefined $x ||= 10; #make sure $x gets set to a default value
This has a problem though: if $x is 0 or "" then it will get overwritten with 10. The defined-or assignment operator (X //= Y) does not have this problem and should, generally, be used for this purpose instead. Of course, if you desire any false value be overwritten, then this is the right operator to use.
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; my $z; $x ||= $y; #$x is now 2 || 8 or 2 $y ||= $x; #$y is now 8 || 2 or 8 my $z ||= $x + $y; #$z is now undef || (2 + 8) or 10
See also
X //= Y
Class
This belongs to Assignment Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the defined-or assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X // Y
It assigns Y to X if X is not already defined. This means that X must be a valid lvalue (i.e. it must be something that can be assigned to).
It is commonly used to ensure that a variable has a value:
my $x; #intervening code that might set $x or might leave it undefined $x //= 10; #make sure $x gets set to a default value
Example
my $x = 2; my $y = 8; my $z; $x //= $y; #$x is now 2 // 8 or 2 $z //= $x; #$z is now undef // 2 or 2
See also
X, Y
Class
This belongs to Comma Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the comma operator. In list context it builds a list. In scalar context it evaluates each item but the last in void context, and then evaluates the last in scalar context and returns it.
Due to the fact that the assignment operator has higher precedence, you must surround the list with parentheses. For example,
my @list = 1, 2, 3;
says the same thing as
(my @list = 1), 2, 3
To get the desired behaviour you must say
my @list = (1, 2, 3);
Function calls, on the other hand, have a lower precedence, so you can say
print 1, 2, 3, "\n";
A trailing comma does not add a new element to a list, to the lists (1,2,3) and (1,2,3,)) are identical.
Example
my @a = (1, 2, 3); #@a is now (1, 2, 3)
my $x = ("a", "b", "c"); #$x is now "c"
my $y = (++$x, ++$x, ++$x); #$y is now "f"
See also
-Y">X => Y
Class
This belongs to Comma Operators in perlop.
Description
This is the fat comma operator. It behaves much in the same way as the comma operator (creates lists in list context, returns the last value in scalar context), but it has a special property: it stringifies X if X is a bareword (i.e. it matches /^[a-zA-Z_]\w+$/). It is most often used when creating hashes because the arrow like appearance makes it easy to identify the key versus the value and the auto-stringifing property makes the keys look cleaner:
my %hash = (
key1 => "value1",
key2 => "value2",
key3 => "value3",
);
That statement is functionally identical to
my %hash = (
"key1", "value1",
"key2", "value2",
"key3", "value3",
);
Example
#%x will contain the list ("a", 1, "b", 2, "c", 3)
my %x = (
a => 1,
b => 2,
c => 3,
);
#%y will contain the list ("key with spaces", 1, "b", 1, "c", 1)
my %y = (
"key with spaces" => 1,
b => 1,
c => 1,
);
See also
not X
Class
This belongs to Logical Not in perlop.
Description
This is the low-precedence logical negation operator. It performs logical negation, i.e., "not". It returns an empty string if X is true, otherwise it returns 1. There is a high-precedence version: !.
Example
my $m = not 5; #$m is now the empty string ("")
my $n = not 0; #$n is now 1
my $o = not ""; #$o is now 1
my $p = not undef; #$p is now 1
See also
X and Y
Class
This belongs to Logical And in perlop.
Description
This is the low-precedence logical and operator. It evaluates X, and if it is false it returns the value of X. If X evaluates to true it evaluates Y and returns its value.
It binds less tightly than the high-precedence logical and operator:
my $y = 5 and 4; # is equivalent to (my $x = 5) and 4;
whereas:
my $x = 5 && 4; # is equivalent to my $x = (5 && 4);
It is most commonly used in conditional statements such as if, unless, while. But it is also occasionally used for its short-circuiting affect:
do_this() and do_that() and do_last();
is functionally the same as
if (do_this()) {
if (do_that()) {
do_last();
}
}
Example
my $w = ""; my $x = 0; my $y = 1; my $z = "foo"; #not the use of parentheses vs this example in && print(($w and $y), "\n"); #prints "\n" print(($x and $y), "\n"); #prints "0\n" print(($y and $z), "\n"); #prints "foo\n" print(($z and $y), "\n"); #prints "1\n"
See also
X or Y
Class
This belongs to Logical or, Defined or, and Exclusive Or in perlop.
Description
This is the low-precedence logical or operator. It evaluates X, and if it is true it returns the value of X. If X evaluates to false it evaluates Y and returns its value.
It binds less tightly than the high-precedence logical or operator:
my $y = 5 or 4; # is equivalent to (my $x = 5) or 4;
whereas:
my $x = 5 && 4; # is equivalent to my $x = (5 || 4);
It is most commonly used in conditional statements such as if, unless, while. It is also often used for its short-circuiting behavior:
open my $fh, "<", $filename
or die "could not open $filename: $!";
That code will not run the die unless the open fails (returns a false value).
Example
my $w = ""; my $x = 0; my $y = 1; my $z = "foo"; #not the use of parentheses vs this example in || print(($w or $x), "\n"); #prints "0\n"; print(($x or $w), "\n"); #prints "\n"; print(($w or $y), "\n"); #prints "1\n" print(($x or $y), "\n"); #prints "1\n" print(($y or $z), "\n"); #prints "1\n" print(($z or $y), "\n"); #prints "foo\n"
See also
X xor Y, X || Y, X // Y, X | Y, and X ^ Y
X xor Y
Class
This belongs to Logical or, Defined or, and Exclusive Or in perlop.
Description
This is the low-precedence logical exclusive-or operator (there is no high-precedence exclusive-or operator). It returns X if only X is true, It returns Y is only Y is true, otherwise (both true or both false) it returns an empty string.
Example
my $m = (0 xor 0); #$m is now "" my $n = (1 xor 0); #$n is now 1 my $o = (0 xor 1); #$o is now 1 my $p = (1 xor 1); #$p is now ""
See also
X or Y, X || Y, X // Y, X | Y, and X ^ Y
Secret Operators
There are idioms in Perl 5 that appear to be operators, but are really a combination of several operators or pieces of syntax. These Secret Operators have the precedence of the constituent parts.
N.B. There are often better ways of doing all of these things and those ways will be easier to understand for the people who will maintain your code after you.
!!X
Description
This secret operator is the boolean conversion operator. It is made up of two logical negation operators. It returns 1 if X evaluates to a true value or "" if X evaluates to a false value. It is useful when you want to convert a value to specific true or false values rather than one of the numerous true and false values in Perl.
Example
my $x = !!"this is a true value"; #$x is now true my $y = !!0; #$y is now ""
See also
()= X
Description
This secret operator is the list assignment operator (aka the countof operator). It is made up of two items (), and =. In scalar context it returns the number of items in the list X. In list context it returns an empty list. It is useful when you have something that returns a list and you want to know the number of items in that list and don't care about the list's contents. It is needed because the comma operator returns the last item in the sequence rather than the number of items in the sequence when it is placed in scalar context.
It works because the assignment operator returns the number of items available to be assigned when its left hand side has list context. In the following example there are five values in the list being assigned to the list ($x, $y, $z), so $count is assigned 5.
my $count = my ($x, $y, $z) = qw/a b c d e/;
The empty list (the () part of the secret operator) triggers this behavior.
Example
sub f { return qw/a b c d e/ }
my $count = ()= f(); #$count is now 5
my $string = "cat cat dog cat";
my $cats = ()= $string =~ /cat/g; #$cats is now 3
print scalar( ()= f() ), "\n"; #prints "5\n"
See also
~~X
Description
This secret operator is named the scalar context operator. It is made up of two bitwise negation operators. It provides scalar context to the expression X. It works because the first bitwise negation operator provides scalar context to X and performs a bitwise negation of the result; since the result of two bitwise negations is the original item, the value of the original expression is preserved.
With the addition of the Smart match operator, this secret operator is even more confusing. The scalar function is much easier to understand and you are encouraged to use it instead.
Example
my @a = qw/a b c d/; print ~~@a, "\n"; #prints 4
See also
~X, X ~~ Y, and scalar in perlfunc
X }{ Y
Description
This secret operator is called the Eskimo-kiss operator because it looks like two faces touching noses. It is made up of an closing brace and an opening brace. It is used when using perl as a command-line program with the -n or -p options. It has the effect of running X inside of the loop created by -n or -p and running Y at the end of the program. It works because the closing brace closes the loop created by -n or -p and the opening brace creates a new bare block that is closed by the loop's original ending. You can see this behavior by using the B::Deparse module. Here is the command perl -ne 'print $_;' deparsed:
LINE: while (defined($_ = <ARGV>)) {
print $_;
}
Notice how the original code was wrapped with the while loop. Here is the deparsing of perl -ne '$count++ if /foo/; }{ print "$count\n"':
LINE: while (defined($_ = <ARGV>)) {
++$count if /foo/;
}
{
print "$count\n";
}
Notice how the while loop is closed by the closing brace we added and the opening brace starts a new bare block that is closed by the closing brace that was originally intended to close the while loop.
Example
# count unique lines in the file FOO
perl -nle '$seen{$_}++ }{ print "$_ => $seen{$_}" for keys %seen' FOO
# sum all of the lines until the user types control-d
perl -nle '$sum += $_ }{ print $sum'
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