SGI Freeware 1999 August

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ SGI Freeware 1999 August / SGI Freeware 1999 August.iso / dist / fw_perl.idb / usr / freeware / catman / u_man / cat1 / perltrap.Z / perltrap

Wrap

Text File | 1998-10-28 | 51.4 KB | 1,849 lines

PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE perltrap - Perl traps for the unwary DDDDEEEESSSSCCCCRRRRIIIIPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNN The biggest trap of all is forgetting to use the ----wwww switch; see the _p_e_r_l_r_u_n manpage. The second biggest trap is not making your entire program runnable under use strict. The third biggest trap is not reading the list of changes in this version of Perl; see the _p_e_r_l_d_e_l_t_a manpage. AAAAwwwwkkkk TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Accustomed aaaawwwwkkkk users should take special note of the following: +o The English module, loaded via use English; allows you to refer to special variables (like $/) with names (like $RS), as though they were in aaaawwwwkkkk; see the _p_e_r_l_v_a_r manpage for details. +o Semicolons are required after all simple statements in Perl (except at the end of a block). Newline is not a statement delimiter. +o Curly brackets are required on ifs and whiles. +o Variables begin with "$", "@" or "%" in Perl. +o Arrays index from 0. Likewise string positions in _s_u_b_s_t_r() and _i_n_d_e_x(). +o You have to decide whether your array has numeric or string indices. +o Hash values do not spring into existence upon mere reference. +o You have to decide whether you want to use string or numeric comparisons. +o Reading an input line does not split it for you. You get to split it to an array yourself. And the _s_p_l_i_t() operator has different arguments than aaaawwwwkkkk's. +o The current input line is normally in $_, not $0. It generally does not have the newline stripped. ($0 is the name of the program executed.) See the _p_e_r_l_v_a_r manpage. Page 1 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) +o $<_d_i_g_i_t> does not refer to fields--it refers to substrings matched by the last match pattern. +o The _p_r_i_n_t() statement does not add field and record separators unless you set $, and $\. You can set $OFS and $ORS if you're using the English module. +o You must open your files before you print to them. +o The range operator is "..", not comma. The comma operator works as in C. +o The match operator is "=~", not "~". ("~" is the one's complement operator, as in C.) +o The exponentiation operator is "**", not "^". "^" is the XOR operator, as in C. (You know, one could get the feeling that aaaawwwwkkkk is basically incompatible with C.) +o The concatenation operator is ".", not the null string. (Using the null string would render /pat/ /pat/ unparsable, because the third slash would be interpreted as a division operator--the tokenizer is in fact slightly context sensitive for operators like "/", "?", and ">". And in fact, "." itself can be the beginning of a number.) +o The next, exit, and continue keywords work differently. +o The following variables work differently: Awk Perl ARGC $#ARGV or scalar @ARGV ARGV[0] $0 FILENAME $ARGV FNR $. - something FS (whatever you like) NF $#Fld, or some such NR $. OFMT $# OFS $, ORS $\ RLENGTH length($&) RS $/ RSTART length($`) SUBSEP $; +o You cannot set $RS to a pattern, only a string. +o When in doubt, run the aaaawwwwkkkk construct through aaaa2222pppp and see what it gives you. Page 2 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) CCCC TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Cerebral C programmers should take note of the following: +o Curly brackets are required on if's and while's. +o You must use elsif rather than else if. +o The break and continue keywords from C become in Perl last and next, respectively. Unlike in C, these do _N_O_T work within a do { } while construct. +o There's no switch statement. (But it's easy to build one on the fly.) +o Variables begin with "$", "@" or "%" in Perl. +o printf() does not implement the "*" format for interpolating field widths, but it's trivial to use interpolation of double-quoted strings to achieve the same effect. +o Comments begin with "#", not "/*". +o You can't take the address of anything, although a similar operator in Perl is the backslash, which creates a reference. +o ARGV must be capitalized. $ARGV[0] is C's argv[1], and argv[0] ends up in $0. +o System calls such as _l_i_n_k(), _u_n_l_i_n_k(), _r_e_n_a_m_e(), etc. return nonzero for success, not 0. +o Signal handlers deal with signal names, not numbers. Use kill -l to find their names on your system. SSSSeeeedddd TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Seasoned sssseeeedddd programmers should take note of the following: +o Backreferences in substitutions use "$" rather than "\". +o The pattern matching metacharacters "(", ")", and "|" do not have backslashes in front. +o The range operator is ..., rather than comma. SSSShhhheeeellllllll TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Sharp shell programmers should take note of the following: Page 3 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) +o The backtick operator does variable interpolation without regard to the presence of single quotes in the command. +o The backtick operator does no translation of the return value, unlike ccccsssshhhh. +o Shells (especially ccccsssshhhh) do several levels of substitution on each command line. Perl does substitution in only certain constructs such as double quotes, backticks, angle brackets, and search patterns. +o Shells interpret scripts a little bit at a time. Perl compiles the entire program before executing it (except for BEGIN blocks, which execute at compile time). +o The arguments are available via @ARGV, not $1, $2, etc. +o The environment is not automatically made available as separate scalar variables. PPPPeeeerrrrllll TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Practicing Perl Programmers should take note of the following: +o Remember that many operations behave differently in a list context than they do in a scalar one. See the _p_e_r_l_d_a_t_a manpage for details. +o Avoid barewords if you can, especially all lowercase ones. You can't tell by just looking at it whether a bareword is a function or a string. By using quotes on strings and parentheses on function calls, you won't ever get them confused. +o You cannot discern from mere inspection which builtins are unary operators (like _c_h_o_p() and _c_h_d_i_r()) and which are list operators (like _p_r_i_n_t() and _u_n_l_i_n_k()). (User- defined subroutines can be oooonnnnllllyyyy list operators, never unary ones.) See the _p_e_r_l_o_p manpage. +o People have a hard time remembering that some functions default to $_, or @ARGV, or whatever, but that others which you might expect to do not. +o The <FH> construct is not the name of the filehandle, it is a readline operation on that handle. The data read is assigned to $_ only if the file read is the sole condition in a while loop: Page 4 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) while (<FH>) { } while (defined($_ = <FH>)) { }.. <FH>; # data discarded! +o Remember not to use "=" when you need "=~"; these two constructs are quite different: $x = /foo/; $x =~ /foo/; +o The do {} construct isn't a real loop that you can use loop control on. +o Use my() for local variables whenever you can get away with it (but see the _p_e_r_l_f_o_r_m manpage for where you can't). Using local() actually gives a local value to a global variable, which leaves you open to unforeseen side-effects of dynamic scoping. +o If you localize an exported variable in a module, its exported value will not change. The local name becomes an alias to a new value but the external name is still an alias for the original. PPPPeeeerrrrllll4444 ttttoooo PPPPeeeerrrrllll5555 TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Practicing Perl4 Programmers should take note of the following Perl4-to-Perl5 specific traps. They're crudely ordered according to the following list: Discontinuance, Deprecation, and BugFix traps Anything that's been fixed as a perl4 bug, removed as a perl4 feature or deprecated as a perl4 feature with the intent to encourage usage of some other perl5 feature. Parsing Traps Traps that appear to stem from the new parser. Numerical Traps Traps having to do with numerical or mathematical operators. General data type traps Traps involving perl standard data types. Context Traps - scalar, list contexts Traps related to context within lists, scalar statements/declarations. Page 5 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) Precedence Traps Traps related to the precedence of parsing, evaluation, and execution of code. General Regular Expression Traps using s///, etc. Traps related to the use of pattern matching. Subroutine, Signal, Sorting Traps Traps related to the use of signals and signal handlers, general subroutines, and sorting, along with sorting subroutines. OS Traps OS-specific traps. DBM Traps Traps specific to the use of dbmopen(), and specific dbm implementations. Unclassified Traps Everything else. If you find an example of a conversion trap that is not listed here, please submit it to Bill Middleton <_w_j_m@_b_e_s_t._c_o_m> for inclusion. Also note that at least some of these can be caught with ----wwww. DDDDiiiissssccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuuaaaannnncccceeee,,,, DDDDeeeepppprrrreeeeccccaaaattttiiiioooonnnn,,,, aaaannnndddd BBBBuuuuggggFFFFiiiixxxx ttttrrrraaaappppssss Anything that has been discontinued, deprecated, or fixed as a bug from perl4. +o Discontinuance Symbols starting with "_" are no longer forced into package main, except for $_ itself (and @_, etc.). package test; $_legacy = 1; package main; print "\$_legacy is ",$_legacy,"\n"; # perl4 prints: $_legacy is 1 # perl5 prints: $_legacy is +o Deprecation Double-colon is now a valid package separator in a variable name. Thus these behave differently in perl4 vs. perl5, because the packages don't exist. Page 6 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) $a=1;$b=2;$c=3;$var=4; print "$a::$b::$c "; print "$var::abc::xyz\n"; # perl4 prints: 1::2::3 4::abc::xyz # perl5 prints: 3 Given that :: is now the preferred package delimiter, it is debatable whether this should be classed as a bug or not. (The older package delimiter, ' ,is used here) $x = 10 ; print "x=${'x}\n" ; # perl4 prints: x=10 # perl5 prints: Can't find string terminator "'" anywhere before EOF You can avoid this problem, and remain compatible with perl4, if you always explicitly include the package name: $x = 10 ; print "x=${main'x}\n" ; Also see precedence traps, for parsing $:. +o BugFix The second and third arguments of splice() are now evaluated in scalar context (as the Camel says) rather than list context. sub sub1{return(0,2) } # return a 2-element list sub sub2{ return(1,2,3)} # return a 3-element list @a1 = ("a","b","c","d","e"); @a2 = splice(@a1,&sub1,&sub2); print join(' ',@a2),"\n"; # perl4 prints: a b # perl5 prints: c d e +o Discontinuance You can't do a goto into a block that is optimized away. Darn. goto marker1; for(1){ marker1: print "Here I is!\n"; } Page 7 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) # perl4 prints: Here I is! # perl5 dumps core (SEGV) +o Discontinuance It is no longer syntactically legal to use whitespace as the name of a variable, or as a delimiter for any kind of quote construct. Double darn. $a = ("foo bar"); $b = q baz ; print "a is $a, b is $b\n"; # perl4 prints: a is foo bar, b is baz # perl5 errors: Bareword found where operator expected +o Discontinuance The archaic while/if BLOCK BLOCK syntax is no longer supported. if { 1 } { print "True!"; } else { print "False!"; } # perl4 prints: True! # perl5 errors: syntax error at test.pl line 1, near "if {" +o BugFix The ** operator now binds more tightly than unary minus. It was documented to work this way before, but didn't. print -4**2,"\n"; # perl4 prints: 16 # perl5 prints: -16 +o Discontinuance The meaning of foreach{} has changed slightly when it is iterating over a list which is not an array. This used to assign the list to a temporary array, but no longer does so (for efficiency). This means that you'll now be iterating over the actual values, not over copies of the values. Modifications to the loop variable can change the original values. Page 8 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) @list = ('ab','abc','bcd','def'); foreach $var (grep(/ab/,@list)){ $var = 1; } print (join(':',@list)); # perl4 prints: ab:abc:bcd:def # perl5 prints: 1:1:bcd:def To retain Perl4 semantics you need to assign your list explicitly to a temporary array and then iterate over that. For example, you might need to change foreach $var (grep(/ab/,@list)){ to foreach $var (@tmp = grep(/ab/,@list)){ Otherwise changing $var will clobber the values of @list. (This most often happens when you use $_ for the loop variable, and call subroutines in the loop that don't properly localize $_.) +o Discontinuance split with no arguments now behaves like split ' ' (which doesn't return an initial null field if $_ starts with whitespace), it used to behave like split /\s+/ (which does). $_ = ' hi mom'; print join(':', split); # perl4 prints: :hi:mom # perl5 prints: hi:mom +o BugFix Perl 4 would ignore any text which was attached to an ----eeee switch, always taking the code snippet from the following arg. Additionally, it would silently accept an ----eeee switch without a following arg. Both of these behaviors have been fixed. perl -e'print "attached to -e"' 'print "separate arg"' # perl4 prints: separate arg # perl5 prints: attached to -e perl -e Page 9 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) # perl4 prints: # perl5 dies: No code specified for -e. +o Discontinuance In Perl 4 the return value of push was undocumented, but it was actually the last value being pushed onto the target list. In Perl 5 the return value of push is documented, but has changed, it is the number of elements in the resulting list. @x = ('existing'); print push(@x, 'first new', 'second new'); # perl4 prints: second new # perl5 prints: 3 +o Discontinuance In Perl 4 (and versions of Perl 5 before 5.004), '\r' characters in Perl code were silently allowed, although they could cause (mysterious!) failures in certain constructs, particularly here documents. Now, '\r' characters cause an immediate fatal error. (Note: In this example, the notation \\\\000011115555 represents the incorrect line ending. Depending upon your text viewer, it will look different.) print "foo";\015 print "bar"; # perl4 prints: foobar # perl5.003 prints: foobar # perl5.004 dies: Illegal character \015 (carriage return) See the _p_e_r_l_d_i_a_g manpage for full details. +o Deprecation Some error messages will be different. +o Discontinuance Some bugs may have been inadvertently removed. :-) PPPPaaaarrrrssssiiiinnnngggg TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Perl4-to-Perl5 traps from having to do with parsing. +o Parsing Note the space between . and = $string . = "more string"; print $string; Page 10 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) # perl4 prints: more string # perl5 prints: syntax error at - line 1, near ". =" +o Parsing Better parsing in perl 5 sub foo {} &foo print("hello, world\n"); # perl4 prints: hello, world # perl5 prints: syntax error +o Parsing "if it looks like a function, it is a function" rule. print ($foo == 1) ? "is one\n" : "is zero\n"; # perl4 prints: is zero # perl5 warns: "Useless use of a constant in void context" if using -w +o Parsing String interpolation of the $#array construct differs when braces are to used around the name. @ = (1..3); print "${#a}"; # perl4 prints: 2 # perl5 fails with syntax error @ = (1..3); print "$#{a}"; # perl4 prints: {a} # perl5 prints: 2 NNNNuuuummmmeeeerrrriiiiccccaaaallll TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Perl4-to-Perl5 traps having to do with numerical operators, operands, or output from same. +o Numerical Formatted output and significant digits print 7.373504 - 0, "\n"; printf "%20.18f\n", 7.373504 - 0; Page 11 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) # Perl4 prints: 7.375039999999996141 7.37503999999999614 # Perl5 prints: 7.373504 7.37503999999999614 +o Numerical This specific item has been deleted. It demonstrated how the auto-increment operator would not catch when a number went over the signed int limit. Fixed in version 5.003_04. But always be wary when using large integers. If in doubt: use Math::BigInt; +o Numerical Assignment of return values from numeric equality tests does not work in perl5 when the test evaluates to false (0). Logical tests now return an null, instead of 0 $p = ($test == 1); print $p,"\n"; # perl4 prints: 0 # perl5 prints: Also see the section on _G_e_n_e_r_a_l _R_e_g_u_l_a_r _E_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n _T_r_a_p_s _u_s_i_n_g _s///, _e_t_c. for another example of this new feature... GGGGeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll ddddaaaattttaaaa ttttyyyyppppeeee ttttrrrraaaappppssss Perl4-to-Perl5 traps involving most data-types, and their usage within certain expressions and/or context. +o (Arrays) Negative array subscripts now count from the end of the array. @a = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5); print "The third element of the array is $a[3] also expressed as $a[-2] \n"; # perl4 prints: The third element of the array is 4 also expressed as # perl5 prints: The third element of the array is 4 also expressed as 4 +o (Arrays) Setting $#array lower now discards array elements, and Page 12 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) makes them impossible to recover. @a = (a,b,c,d,e); print "Before: ",join('',@a); $#a =1; print ", After: ",join('',@a); $#a =3; print ", Recovered: ",join('',@a),"\n"; # perl4 prints: Before: abcde, After: ab, Recovered: abcd # perl5 prints: Before: abcde, After: ab, Recovered: ab +o (Hashes) Hashes get defined before use local($s,@a,%h); die "scalar \$s defined" if defined($s); die "array \@a defined" if defined(@a); die "hash \%h defined" if defined(%h); # perl4 prints: # perl5 dies: hash %h defined +o (Globs) glob assignment from variable to variable will fail if the assigned variable is localized subsequent to the assignment @a = ("This is Perl 4"); *b = *a; local(@a); print @b,"\n"; # perl4 prints: This is Perl 4 # perl5 prints: +o (Globs) Assigning undef to a glob has no effect in Perl 5. In Perl 4 it undefines the associated scalar (but may have other side effects including SEGVs). +o (Scalar String) Changes in unary negation (of strings) This change effects both the return value and what it does to _a_u_t_o(magic)increment. Page 13 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) $x = "aaa"; print ++$x," : "; print -$x," : "; print ++$x,"\n"; # perl4 prints: aab : -0 : 1 # perl5 prints: aab : -aab : aac +o (Constants) perl 4 lets you modify constants: $foo = "x"; &mod($foo); for ($x = 0; $x < 3; $x++) { &mod("a"); } sub mod { print "before: $_[0]"; $_[0] = "m"; print " after: $_[0]\n"; } # perl4: # before: x after: m # before: a after: m # before: m after: m # before: m after: m # Perl5: # before: x after: m # Modification of a read-only value attempted at foo.pl line 12. # before: a +o (Scalars) The behavior is slightly different for: print "$x", defined $x # perl 4: 1 # perl 5: <no output, $x is not called into existence> +o (Variable Suicide) Variable suicide behavior is more consistent under Perl 5. Perl5 exhibits the same behavior for hashes and scalars, that perl4 exhibits for only scalars. Page 14 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) $aGlobal{ "aKey" } = "global value"; print "MAIN:", $aGlobal{"aKey"}, "\n"; $GlobalLevel = 0; &test( *aGlobal ); sub test { local( *theArgument ) = @_; local( %aNewLocal ); # perl 4 != 5.001l,m $aNewLocal{"aKey"} = "this should never appear"; print "SUB: ", $theArgument{"aKey"}, "\n"; $aNewLocal{"aKey"} = "level $GlobalLevel"; # what should print $GlobalLevel++; if( $GlobalLevel<4 ) { &test( *aNewLocal ); } } # Perl4: # MAIN:global value # SUB: global value # SUB: level 0 # SUB: level 1 # SUB: level 2 # Perl5: # MAIN:global value # SUB: global value # SUB: this should never appear # SUB: this should never appear # SUB: this should never appear CCCCoooonnnntttteeeexxxxtttt TTTTrrrraaaappppssss ---- ssssccccaaaallllaaaarrrr,,,, lllliiiisssstttt ccccoooonnnntttteeeexxxxttttssss +o (list context) The elements of argument lists for formats are now evaluated in list context. This means you can interpolate list values now. @fmt = ("foo","bar","baz"); format STDOUT= @<<<<< @||||| @>>>>> @fmt; . write; # perl4 errors: Please use commas to separate fields in file # perl5 prints: foo bar baz +o (scalar context) The caller() function now returns a false value in a Page 15 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) scalar context if there is no caller. This lets library files determine if they're being required. caller() ? (print "You rang?\n") : (print "Got a 0\n"); # perl4 errors: There is no caller # perl5 prints: Got a 0 +o (scalar context) The comma operator in a scalar context is now guaranteed to give a scalar context to its arguments. @y= ('a','b','c'); $x = (1, 2, @y); print "x = $x\n"; # Perl4 prints: x = c # Thinks list context interpolates list # Perl5 prints: x = 3 # Knows scalar uses length of list +o (list, builtin) sprintf() funkiness (array argument converted to scalar array count) This test could be added to t/op/sprintf.t @z = ('%s%s', 'foo', 'bar'); $x = sprintf(@z); if ($x eq 'foobar') {print "ok 2\n";} else {print "not ok 2 '$x'\n";} # perl4 prints: ok 2 # perl5 prints: not ok 2 printf() works fine, though: printf STDOUT (@z); print "\n"; # perl4 prints: foobar # perl5 prints: foobar Probably a bug. PPPPrrrreeeecccceeeeddddeeeennnncccceeee TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Perl4-to-Perl5 traps involving precedence order. Perl 4 has almost the same precedence rules as Perl 5 for the operators that they both have. Perl 4 however, seems to have had some inconsistencies that made the behavior differ from what was documented. Page 16 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) +o Precedence LHS vs. RHS of any assignment operator. LHS is evaluated first in perl4, second in perl5; this can affect the relationship between side-effects in sub- expressions. @arr = ( 'left', 'right' ); $a{shift @arr} = shift @arr; print join( ' ', keys %a ); # perl4 prints: left # perl5 prints: right +o Precedence These are now semantic errors because of precedence: @list = (1,2,3,4,5); %map = ("a",1,"b",2,"c",3,"d",4); $n = shift @list + 2; # first item in list plus 2 print "n is $n, "; $m = keys %map + 2; # number of items in hash plus 2 print "m is $m\n"; # perl4 prints: n is 3, m is 6 # perl5 errors and fails to compile +o Precedence The precedence of assignment operators is now the same as the precedence of assignment. Perl 4 mistakenly gave them the precedence of the associated operator. So you now must parenthesize them in expressions like /foo/ ? ($a += 2) : ($a -= 2); Otherwise /foo/ ? $a += 2 : $a -= 2 would be erroneously parsed as (/foo/ ? $a += 2 : $a) -= 2; On the other hand, $a += /foo/ ? 1 : 2; now works as a C programmer would expect. +o Precedence Page 17 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) open FOO || die; is now incorrect. You need parentheses around the filehandle. Otherwise, perl5 leaves the statement as its default precedence: open(FOO || die); # perl4 opens or dies # perl5 errors: Precedence problem: open FOO should be open(FOO) +o Precedence perl4 gives the special variable, $: precedence, where perl5 treats $:: as main package $a = "x"; print "$::a"; # perl 4 prints: -:a # perl 5 prints: x +o Precedence perl4 had buggy precedence for the file test operators vis-a-vis the assignment operators. Thus, although the precedence table for perl4 leads one to believe -e $foo .= "q" should parse as ((-e $foo) .= "q"), it actually parses as (-e ($foo .= "q")). In perl5, the precedence is as documented. -e $foo .= "q" # perl4 prints: no output # perl5 prints: Can't modify -e in concatenation +o Precedence In perl4, _k_e_y_s(), _e_a_c_h() and _v_a_l_u_e_s() were special high-precedence operators that operated on a single hash, but in perl5, they are regular named unary operators. As documented, named unary operators have lower precedence than the arithmetic and concatenation operators + - ., but the perl4 variants of these operators actually bind tighter than + - .. Thus, for: %foo = 1..10; print keys %foo - 1 # perl4 prints: 4 # perl5 prints: Type of arg 1 to keys must be hash (not subtraction) The perl4 behavior was probably more useful, if less Page 18 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) consistent. GGGGeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll RRRReeeegggguuuullllaaaarrrr EEEExxxxpppprrrreeeessssssssiiiioooonnnn TTTTrrrraaaappppssss uuuussssiiiinnnngggg ssss////////////,,,, eeeettttcccc.... All types of RE traps. +o Regular Expression s'$lhs'$rhs' now does no interpolation on either side. It used to interpolate $lhs but not $rhs. (And still does not match a literal '$' in string) $a=1;$b=2; $string = '1 2 $a $b'; $string =~ s'$a'$b'; print $string,"\n"; # perl4 prints: $b 2 $a $b # perl5 prints: 1 2 $a $b +o Regular Expression m//g now attaches its state to the searched string rather than the regular expression. (Once the scope of a block is left for the sub, the state of the searched string is lost) $_ = "ababab"; while(m/ab/g){ &doit("blah"); } sub doit{local($_) = shift; print "Got $_ "} # perl4 prints: blah blah blah # perl5 prints: infinite loop blah... +o Regular Expression Currently, if you use the m//o qualifier on a regular expression within an anonymous sub, _a_l_l closures generated from that anonymous sub will use the regular expression as it was compiled when it was used the very first time in any such closure. For instance, if you say sub build_match { my($left,$right) = @_; return sub { $_[0] =~ /$left stuff $right/o; }; } _b_u_i_l_d__m_a_t_c_h() will always return a sub which matches the contents of $left and $right as they were the _f_i_r_s_t time that _b_u_i_l_d__m_a_t_c_h() was called, not as they are in Page 19 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) the current call. This is probably a bug, and may change in future versions of Perl. +o Regular Expression If no parentheses are used in a match, Perl4 sets $+ to the whole match, just like $&. Perl5 does not. "abcdef" =~ /b.*e/; print "\$+ = $+\n"; # perl4 prints: bcde # perl5 prints: +o Regular Expression substitution now returns the null string if it fails $string = "test"; $value = ($string =~ s/foo//); print $value, "\n"; # perl4 prints: 0 # perl5 prints: Also see the section on _N_u_m_e_r_i_c_a_l _T_r_a_p_s for another example of this new feature. +o Regular Expression s`lhs`rhs` (using backticks) is now a normal substitution, with no backtick expansion $string = ""; $string =~ s`^`hostname`; print $string, "\n"; # perl4 prints: <the local hostname> # perl5 prints: hostname +o Regular Expression Stricter parsing of variables used in regular expressions s/^([^$grpc]*$grpc[$opt$plus$rep]?)//o; # perl4: compiles w/o error # perl5: with Scalar found where operator expected ..., near "$opt$plus" an added component of this example, apparently from the same script, is the actual value of the s'd string Page 20 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) after the substitution. [$opt] is a character class in perl4 and an array subscript in perl5 $grpc = 'a'; $opt = 'r'; $_ = 'bar'; s/^([^$grpc]*$grpc[$opt]?)/foo/; print ; # perl4 prints: foo # perl5 prints: foobar +o Regular Expression Under perl5, m?x? matches only once, like ?x?. Under perl4, it matched repeatedly, like /x/ or m!x!. $test = "once"; sub match { $test =~ m?once?; } &match(); if( &match() ) { # m?x? matches more then once print "perl4\n"; } else { # m?x? matches only once print "perl5\n"; } # perl4 prints: perl4 # perl5 prints: perl5 SSSSuuuubbbbrrrroooouuuuttttiiiinnnneeee,,,, SSSSiiiiggggnnnnaaaallll,,,, SSSSoooorrrrttttiiiinnnngggg TTTTrrrraaaappppssss The general group of Perl4-to-Perl5 traps having to do with Signals, Sorting, and their related subroutines, as well as general subroutine traps. Includes some OS-Specific traps. +o (Signals) Barewords that used to look like strings to Perl will now look like subroutine calls if a subroutine by that name is defined before the compiler sees them. sub SeeYa { warn"Hasta la vista, baby!" } $SIG{'TERM'} = SeeYa; print "SIGTERM is now $SIG{'TERM'}\n"; # perl4 prints: SIGTERM is main'SeeYa # perl5 prints: SIGTERM is now main::1 Use ----wwww to catch this one Page 21 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) +o (Sort Subroutine) reverse is no longer allowed as the name of a sort subroutine. sub reverse{ print "yup "; $a <=> $b } print sort reverse a,b,c; # perl4 prints: yup yup yup yup abc # perl5 prints: abc +o warn() won't let you specify a filehandle. Although it _always_ printed to STDERR, _w_a_r_n() would let you specify a filehandle in perl4. With perl5 it does not. warn STDERR "Foo!"; # perl4 prints: Foo! # perl5 prints: String found where operator expected OOOOSSSS TTTTrrrraaaappppssss +o (SysV) Under HPUX, and some other SysV OSes, one had to reset any signal handler, within the signal handler function, each time a signal was handled with perl4. With perl5, the reset is now done correctly. Any code relying on the handler _not_ being reset will have to be reworked. Since version 5.002, Perl uses _s_i_g_a_c_t_i_o_n() under SysV. sub gotit { print "Got @_... "; } $SIG{'INT'} = 'gotit'; $| = 1; $pid = fork; if ($pid) { kill('INT', $pid); sleep(1); kill('INT', $pid); } else { while (1) {sleep(10);} } # perl4 (HPUX) prints: Got INT... # perl5 (HPUX) prints: Got INT... Got INT... Page 22 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) +o (SysV) Under SysV OSes, seek() on a file opened to append >> now does the right thing w.r.t. the _f_o_p_e_n() manpage. e.g., - When a file is opened for append, it is impossible to overwrite information already in the file. open(TEST,">>seek.test"); $start = tell TEST ; foreach(1 .. 9){ print TEST "$_ "; } $end = tell TEST ; seek(TEST,$start,0); print TEST "18 characters here"; # perl4 (solaris) seek.test has: 18 characters here # perl5 (solaris) seek.test has: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 18 characters here IIIInnnntttteeeerrrrppppoooollllaaaattttiiiioooonnnn TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Perl4-to-Perl5 traps having to do with how things get interpolated within certain expressions, statements, contexts, or whatever. +o Interpolation @ now always interpolates an array in double-quotish strings. print "To: someone@somewhere.com\n"; # perl4 prints: To:someone@somewhere.com # perl5 errors : In string, @somewhere now must be written as \@somewhere +o Interpolation Double-quoted strings may no longer end with an unescaped $ or @. $foo = "foo$"; $bar = "bar@"; print "foo is $foo, bar is $bar\n"; # perl4 prints: foo is foo$, bar is bar@ # perl5 errors: Final $ should be \$ or $name Note: perl5 DOES NOT error on the terminating @ in $bar +o Interpolation Perl now sometimes evaluates arbitrary expressions inside braces that occur within double quotes (usually Page 23 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) when the opening brace is preceded by $ or @). @www = "buz"; $foo = "foo"; $bar = "bar"; sub foo { return "bar" }; print "|@{w.w.w}|${main'foo}|"; # perl4 prints: |@{w.w.w}|foo| # perl5 prints: |buz|bar| Note that you can use strict; to ward off such trappiness under perl5. +o Interpolation The construct "this is $$x" used to interpolate the pid at that point, but now apparently tries to dereference $x. $$ by itself still works fine, however. print "this is $$x\n"; # perl4 prints: this is XXXx (XXX is the current pid) # perl5 prints: this is +o Interpolation Creation of hashes on the fly with eval "EXPR" now requires either both $'s to be protected in the specification of the hash name, or both curlies to be protected. If both curlies are protected, the result will be compatible with perl4 and perl5. This is a very common practice, and should be changed to use the block form of eval{} if possible. $hashname = "foobar"; $key = "baz"; $value = 1234; eval "\$$hashname{'$key'} = q|$value|"; (defined($foobar{'baz'})) ? (print "Yup") : (print "Nope"); # perl4 prints: Yup # perl5 prints: Nope Changing eval "\$$hashname{'$key'} = q|$value|"; to eval "\$\$hashname{'$key'} = q|$value|"; causes the following result: Page 24 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) # perl4 prints: Nope # perl5 prints: Yup or, changing to eval "\$$hashname\{'$key'\} = q|$value|"; causes the following result: # perl4 prints: Yup # perl5 prints: Yup # and is compatible for both versions +o Interpolation perl4 programs which unconsciously rely on the bugs in earlier perl versions. perl -e '$bar=q/not/; print "This is $foo{$bar} perl5"' # perl4 prints: This is not perl5 # perl5 prints: This is perl5 +o Interpolation You also have to be careful about array references. print "$foo{" perl 4 prints: { perl 5 prints: syntax error +o Interpolation Similarly, watch out for: $foo = "array"; print "\$$foo{bar}\n"; # perl4 prints: $array{bar} # perl5 prints: $ Perl 5 is looking for $array{bar} which doesn't exist, but perl 4 is happy just to expand $foo to "array" by itself. Watch out for this especially in eval's. +o Interpolation qq() string passed to eval Page 25 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) eval qq( foreach \$y (keys %\$x\) { \$count++; } ); # perl4 runs this ok # perl5 prints: Can't find string terminator ")" DDDDBBBBMMMM TTTTrrrraaaappppssss General DBM traps. +o DBM Existing dbm databases created under perl4 (or any other dbm/ndbm tool) may cause the same script, run under perl5, to fail. The build of perl5 must have been linked with the same dbm/ndbm as the default for dbmopen() to function properly without tie'ing to an extension dbm implementation. dbmopen (%dbm, "file", undef); print "ok\n"; # perl4 prints: ok # perl5 prints: ok (IFF linked with -ldbm or -lndbm) +o DBM Existing dbm databases created under perl4 (or any other dbm/ndbm tool) may cause the same script, run under perl5, to fail. The error generated when exceeding the limit on the key/value size will cause perl5 to exit immediately. dbmopen(DB, "testdb",0600) || die "couldn't open db! $!"; $DB{'trap'} = "x" x 1024; # value too large for most dbm/ndbm print "YUP\n"; # perl4 prints: dbm store returned -1, errno 28, key "trap" at - line 3. YUP # perl5 prints: dbm store returned -1, errno 28, key "trap" at - line 3. UUUUnnnnccccllllaaaassssssssiiiiffffiiiieeeedddd TTTTrrrraaaappppssss Everything else. Page 26 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) +o require/do trap using returned value If the file doit.pl has: sub foo { $rc = do "./do.pl"; return 8; } print &foo, "\n"; And the do.pl file has the following single line: return 3; Running doit.pl gives the following: # perl 4 prints: 3 (aborts the subroutine early) # perl 5 prints: 8 Same behavior if you replace do with require. +o split on empty string with LIMIT specified $string = ''; @list = split(/foo/, $string, 2) Perl4 returns a one element list containing the empty string but Perl5 returns an empty list. As always, if any of these are ever officially declared as bugs, they'll be fixed and removed. Page 27 (printed 10/23/98) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) 22223333////JJJJuuuullll////99998888 ((((ppppeeeerrrrllll 5555....000000005555,,,, ppppaaaattttcccchhhh 00002222)))) PPPPEEEERRRRLLLLTTTTRRRRAAAAPPPP((((1111)))) Page 28 (printed 10/23/98)