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QTAwk has integrated arrays into used-defined functions so that arrays
may be passed to used-defined functions and returned by user-defined
functions.
Normally parameters are passed to user-defined functions "by value",
i.e., if in invoking a user-defined function one of the parameters to
be passed is a variable, normally the variable itself is not passed but
a copy of the variable is made, the variable "value", and this is
passed to the function.
Arrays are passed to user-defined functions under the following
conditions:
1) the argument to be passed is a global or local and an array at
function invokation.
2) the argument is a global or local variable and used as array in the
function, i.e., indexed or operated on by the "in" operator. This
is true whether the variable was an array or scalar at function
invokation. If the refenced variable was a scalar at function
invokation, then at function termination, if the statement(s) in
which the argument was indexed were executed, the referenced
variable will be an array with the index values referenced.
3) the argument is a global or local scalar variable and at function
termination the argument is an array. In this case, the argument
may not have been directly referenced as an array in the called
function, but may be the result of an operation involving an array.
Alternatively, the argument may have been passed to another function
which referenced it as an array or set it to the result of
operations on arrays.
Additionally, QTAwk may return an array as a return value. When the
return expression results in an array, the entire array becomes the
functional return value.
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