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1=head1 NAME
2X<syntax>
3
4perlsyn - Perl syntax
5
6=head1 DESCRIPTION
7
8A Perl program consists of a sequence of declarations and statements
9which run from the top to the bottom. Loops, subroutines and other
10control structures allow you to jump around within the code.
11
12Perl is a B<free-form> language, you can format and indent it however
13you like. Whitespace mostly serves to separate tokens, unlike
14languages like Python where it is an important part of the syntax.
15
16Many of Perl's syntactic elements are B<optional>. Rather than
17requiring you to put parentheses around every function call and
18declare every variable, you can often leave such explicit elements off
19and Perl will figure out what you meant. This is known as B<Do What I
20Mean>, abbreviated B<DWIM>. It allows programmers to be B<lazy> and to
21code in a style with which they are comfortable.
22
23Perl B<borrows syntax> and concepts from many languages: awk, sed, C,
24Bourne Shell, Smalltalk, Lisp and even English. Other
25languages have borrowed syntax from Perl, particularly its regular
26expression extensions. So if you have programmed in another language
27you will see familiar pieces in Perl. They often work the same, but
28see L<perltrap> for information about how they differ.
29
30=head2 Declarations
31X<declaration> X<undef> X<undefined> X<uninitialized>
32
33The only things you need to declare in Perl are report formats and
34subroutines (and sometimes not even subroutines). A variable holds
35the undefined value (C<undef>) until it has been assigned a defined
36value, which is anything other than C<undef>. When used as a number,
37C<undef> is treated as C<0>; when used as a string, it is treated as
38the empty string, C<"">; and when used as a reference that isn't being
39assigned to, it is treated as an error. If you enable warnings,
40you'll be notified of an uninitialized value whenever you treat
41C<undef> as a string or a number. Well, usually. Boolean contexts,
42such as:
43
44 my $a;
45 if ($a) {}
46
47are exempt from warnings (because they care about truth rather than
48definedness). Operators such as C<++>, C<-->, C<+=>,
49C<-=>, and C<.=>, that operate on undefined left values such as:
50
51 my $a;
52 $a++;
53
54are also always exempt from such warnings.
55
56A declaration can be put anywhere a statement can, but has no effect on
57the execution of the primary sequence of statements--declarations all
58take effect at compile time. Typically all the declarations are put at
59the beginning or the end of the script. However, if you're using
60lexically-scoped private variables created with C<my()>, you'll
61have to make sure
62your format or subroutine definition is within the same block scope
63as the my if you expect to be able to access those private variables.
64
65Declaring a subroutine allows a subroutine name to be used as if it were a
66list operator from that point forward in the program. You can declare a
67subroutine without defining it by saying C<sub name>, thus:
68X<subroutine, declaration>
69
70 sub myname;
71 $me = myname $0 or die "can't get myname";
72
73Note that myname() functions as a list operator, not as a unary operator;
74so be careful to use C<or> instead of C<||> in this case. However, if
75you were to declare the subroutine as C<sub myname ($)>, then
76C<myname> would function as a unary operator, so either C<or> or
77C<||> would work.
78
79Subroutines declarations can also be loaded up with the C<require> statement
80or both loaded and imported into your namespace with a C<use> statement.
81See L<perlmod> for details on this.
82
83A statement sequence may contain declarations of lexically-scoped
84variables, but apart from declaring a variable name, the declaration acts
85like an ordinary statement, and is elaborated within the sequence of
86statements as if it were an ordinary statement. That means it actually
87has both compile-time and run-time effects.
88
89=head2 Comments
90X<comment> X<#>
91
92Text from a C<"#"> character until the end of the line is a comment,
93and is ignored. Exceptions include C<"#"> inside a string or regular
94expression.
95
96=head2 Simple Statements
97X<statement> X<semicolon> X<expression> X<;>
98
99The only kind of simple statement is an expression evaluated for its
100side effects. Every simple statement must be terminated with a
101semicolon, unless it is the final statement in a block, in which case
102the semicolon is optional. (A semicolon is still encouraged if the
103block takes up more than one line, because you may eventually add
104another line.) Note that there are some operators like C<eval {}> and
105C<do {}> that look like compound statements, but aren't (they're just
106TERMs in an expression), and thus need an explicit termination if used
107as the last item in a statement.
108
109=head2 Truth and Falsehood
110X<truth> X<falsehood> X<true> X<false> X<!> X<not> X<negation> X<0>
111
112The number 0, the strings C<'0'> and C<''>, the empty list C<()>, and
113C<undef> are all false in a boolean context. All other values are true.
114Negation of a true value by C<!> or C<not> returns a special false value.
115When evaluated as a string it is treated as C<''>, but as a number, it
116is treated as 0.
117
118=head2 Statement Modifiers
119X<statement modifier> X<modifier> X<if> X<unless> X<while>
120X<until> X<foreach> X<for>
121
122Any simple statement may optionally be followed by a I<SINGLE> modifier,
123just before the terminating semicolon (or block ending). The possible
124modifiers are:
125
126 if EXPR
127 unless EXPR
128 while EXPR
129 until EXPR
130 foreach LIST
131
132The C<EXPR> following the modifier is referred to as the "condition".
133Its truth or falsehood determines how the modifier will behave.
134
135C<if> executes the statement once I<if> and only if the condition is
136true. C<unless> is the opposite, it executes the statement I<unless>
137the condition is true (i.e., if the condition is false).
138
139 print "Basset hounds got long ears" if length $ear >= 10;
140 go_outside() and play() unless $is_raining;
141
142The C<foreach> modifier is an iterator: it executes the statement once
143for each item in the LIST (with C<$_> aliased to each item in turn).
144
145 print "Hello $_!\n" foreach qw(world Dolly nurse);
146
147C<while> repeats the statement I<while> the condition is true.
148C<until> does the opposite, it repeats the statement I<until> the
149condition is true (or while the condition is false):
150
151 # Both of these count from 0 to 10.
152 print $i++ while $i <= 10;
153 print $j++ until $j > 10;
154
155The C<while> and C<until> modifiers have the usual "C<while> loop"
156semantics (conditional evaluated first), except when applied to a
157C<do>-BLOCK (or to the deprecated C<do>-SUBROUTINE statement), in
158which case the block executes once before the conditional is
159evaluated. This is so that you can write loops like:
160
161 do {
162 $line = <STDIN>;
163 ...
164 } until $line eq ".\n";
165
166See L<perlfunc/do>. Note also that the loop control statements described
167later will I<NOT> work in this construct, because modifiers don't take
168loop labels. Sorry. You can always put another block inside of it
169(for C<next>) or around it (for C<last>) to do that sort of thing.
170For C<next>, just double the braces:
171X<next> X<last> X<redo>
172
173 do {{
174 next if $x == $y;
175 # do something here
176 }} until $x++ > $z;
177
178For C<last>, you have to be more elaborate:
179X<last>
180
181 LOOP: {
182 do {
183 last if $x = $y**2;
184 # do something here
185 } while $x++ <= $z;
186 }
187
188B<NOTE:> The behaviour of a C<my> statement modified with a statement
189modifier conditional or loop construct (e.g. C<my $x if ...>) is
190B<undefined>. The value of the C<my> variable may be C<undef>, any
191previously assigned value, or possibly anything else. Don't rely on
192it. Future versions of perl might do something different from the
193version of perl you try it out on. Here be dragons.
194X<my>
195
196=head2 Compound Statements
197X<statement, compound> X<block> X<bracket, curly> X<curly bracket> X<brace>
198X<{> X<}> X<if> X<unless> X<while> X<until> X<foreach> X<for> X<continue>
199
200In Perl, a sequence of statements that defines a scope is called a block.
201Sometimes a block is delimited by the file containing it (in the case
202of a required file, or the program as a whole), and sometimes a block
203is delimited by the extent of a string (in the case of an eval).
204
205But generally, a block is delimited by curly brackets, also known as braces.
206We will call this syntactic construct a BLOCK.
207
208The following compound statements may be used to control flow:
209
210 if (EXPR) BLOCK
211 if (EXPR) BLOCK else BLOCK
212 if (EXPR) BLOCK elsif (EXPR) BLOCK ... else BLOCK
213 LABEL while (EXPR) BLOCK
214 LABEL while (EXPR) BLOCK continue BLOCK
215 LABEL until (EXPR) BLOCK
216 LABEL until (EXPR) BLOCK continue BLOCK
217 LABEL for (EXPR; EXPR; EXPR) BLOCK
218 LABEL foreach VAR (LIST) BLOCK
219 LABEL foreach VAR (LIST) BLOCK continue BLOCK
220 LABEL BLOCK continue BLOCK
221
222Note that, unlike C and Pascal, these are defined in terms of BLOCKs,
223not statements. This means that the curly brackets are I<required>--no
224dangling statements allowed. If you want to write conditionals without
225curly brackets there are several other ways to do it. The following
226all do the same thing:
227
228 if (!open(FOO)) { die "Can't open $FOO: $!"; }
229 die "Can't open $FOO: $!" unless open(FOO);
230 open(FOO) or die "Can't open $FOO: $!"; # FOO or bust!
231 open(FOO) ? 'hi mom' : die "Can't open $FOO: $!";
232 # a bit exotic, that last one
233
234The C<if> statement is straightforward. Because BLOCKs are always
235bounded by curly brackets, there is never any ambiguity about which
236C<if> an C<else> goes with. If you use C<unless> in place of C<if>,
237the sense of the test is reversed.
238
239The C<while> statement executes the block as long as the expression is
240true (does not evaluate to the null string C<""> or C<0> or C<"0">).
241The C<until> statement executes the block as long as the expression is
242false.
243The LABEL is optional, and if present, consists of an identifier followed
244by a colon. The LABEL identifies the loop for the loop control
245statements C<next>, C<last>, and C<redo>.
246If the LABEL is omitted, the loop control statement
247refers to the innermost enclosing loop. This may include dynamically
248looking back your call-stack at run time to find the LABEL. Such
249desperate behavior triggers a warning if you use the C<use warnings>
250pragma or the B<-w> flag.
251
252If there is a C<continue> BLOCK, it is always executed just before the
253conditional is about to be evaluated again. Thus it can be used to
254increment a loop variable, even when the loop has been continued via
255the C<next> statement.
256
257=head2 Loop Control
258X<loop control> X<loop, control> X<next> X<last> X<redo> X<continue>
259
260The C<next> command starts the next iteration of the loop:
261
262 LINE: while (<STDIN>) {
263 next LINE if /^#/; # discard comments
264 ...
265 }
266
267The C<last> command immediately exits the loop in question. The
268C<continue> block, if any, is not executed:
269
270 LINE: while (<STDIN>) {
271 last LINE if /^$/; # exit when done with header
272 ...
273 }
274
275The C<redo> command restarts the loop block without evaluating the
276conditional again. The C<continue> block, if any, is I<not> executed.
277This command is normally used by programs that want to lie to themselves
278about what was just input.
279
280For example, when processing a file like F</etc/termcap>.
281If your input lines might end in backslashes to indicate continuation, you
282want to skip ahead and get the next record.
283
284 while (<>) {
285 chomp;
286 if (s/\\$//) {
287 $_ .= <>;
288 redo unless eof();
289 }
290 # now process $_
291 }
292
293which is Perl short-hand for the more explicitly written version:
294
295 LINE: while (defined($line = <ARGV>)) {
296 chomp($line);
297 if ($line =~ s/\\$//) {
298 $line .= <ARGV>;
299 redo LINE unless eof(); # not eof(ARGV)!
300 }
301 # now process $line
302 }
303
304Note that if there were a C<continue> block on the above code, it would
305get executed only on lines discarded by the regex (since redo skips the
306continue block). A continue block is often used to reset line counters
307or C<?pat?> one-time matches:
308
309 # inspired by :1,$g/fred/s//WILMA/
310 while (<>) {
311 ?(fred)? && s//WILMA $1 WILMA/;
312 ?(barney)? && s//BETTY $1 BETTY/;
313 ?(homer)? && s//MARGE $1 MARGE/;
314 } continue {
315 print "$ARGV $.: $_";
316 close ARGV if eof(); # reset $.
317 reset if eof(); # reset ?pat?
318 }
319
320If the word C<while> is replaced by the word C<until>, the sense of the
321test is reversed, but the conditional is still tested before the first
322iteration.
323
324The loop control statements don't work in an C<if> or C<unless>, since
325they aren't loops. You can double the braces to make them such, though.
326
327 if (/pattern/) {{
328 last if /fred/;
329 next if /barney/; # same effect as "last", but doesn't document as well
330 # do something here
331 }}
332
333This is caused by the fact that a block by itself acts as a loop that
334executes once, see L<"Basic BLOCKs and Switch Statements">.
335
336The form C<while/if BLOCK BLOCK>, available in Perl 4, is no longer
337available. Replace any occurrence of C<if BLOCK> by C<if (do BLOCK)>.
338
339=head2 For Loops
340X<for> X<foreach>
341
342Perl's C-style C<for> loop works like the corresponding C<while> loop;
343that means that this:
344
345 for ($i = 1; $i < 10; $i++) {
346 ...
347 }
348
349is the same as this:
350
351 $i = 1;
352 while ($i < 10) {
353 ...
354 } continue {
355 $i++;
356 }
357
358There is one minor difference: if variables are declared with C<my>
359in the initialization section of the C<for>, the lexical scope of
360those variables is exactly the C<for> loop (the body of the loop
361and the control sections).
362X<my>
363
364Besides the normal array index looping, C<for> can lend itself
365to many other interesting applications. Here's one that avoids the
366problem you get into if you explicitly test for end-of-file on
367an interactive file descriptor causing your program to appear to
368hang.
369X<eof> X<end-of-file> X<end of file>
370
371 $on_a_tty = -t STDIN && -t STDOUT;
372 sub prompt { print "yes? " if $on_a_tty }
373 for ( prompt(); <STDIN>; prompt() ) {
374 # do something
375 }
376
377Using C<readline> (or the operator form, C<< <EXPR> >>) as the
378conditional of a C<for> loop is shorthand for the following. This
379behaviour is the same as a C<while> loop conditional.
380X<readline> X<< <> >>
381
382 for ( prompt(); defined( $_ = <STDIN> ); prompt() ) {
383 # do something
384 }
385
386=head2 Foreach Loops
387X<for> X<foreach>
388
389The C<foreach> loop iterates over a normal list value and sets the
390variable VAR to be each element of the list in turn. If the variable
391is preceded with the keyword C<my>, then it is lexically scoped, and
392is therefore visible only within the loop. Otherwise, the variable is
393implicitly local to the loop and regains its former value upon exiting
394the loop. If the variable was previously declared with C<my>, it uses
395that variable instead of the global one, but it's still localized to
396the loop. This implicit localisation occurs I<only> in a C<foreach>
397loop.
398X<my> X<local>
399
400The C<foreach> keyword is actually a synonym for the C<for> keyword, so
401you can use C<foreach> for readability or C<for> for brevity. (Or because
402the Bourne shell is more familiar to you than I<csh>, so writing C<for>
403comes more naturally.) If VAR is omitted, C<$_> is set to each value.
404X<$_>
405
406If any element of LIST is an lvalue, you can modify it by modifying
407VAR inside the loop. Conversely, if any element of LIST is NOT an
408lvalue, any attempt to modify that element will fail. In other words,
409the C<foreach> loop index variable is an implicit alias for each item
410in the list that you're looping over.
411X<alias>
412
413If any part of LIST is an array, C<foreach> will get very confused if
414you add or remove elements within the loop body, for example with
415C<splice>. So don't do that.
416X<splice>
417
418C<foreach> probably won't do what you expect if VAR is a tied or other
419special variable. Don't do that either.
420
421Examples:
422
423 for (@ary) { s/foo/bar/ }
424
425 for my $elem (@elements) {
426 $elem *= 2;
427 }
428
429 for $count (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,'BOOM') {
430 print $count, "\n"; sleep(1);
431 }
432
433 for (1..15) { print "Merry Christmas\n"; }
434
435 foreach $item (split(/:[\\\n:]*/, $ENV{TERMCAP})) {
436 print "Item: $item\n";
437 }
438
439Here's how a C programmer might code up a particular algorithm in Perl:
440
441 for (my $i = 0; $i < @ary1; $i++) {
442 for (my $j = 0; $j < @ary2; $j++) {
443 if ($ary1[$i] > $ary2[$j]) {
444 last; # can't go to outer :-(
445 }
446 $ary1[$i] += $ary2[$j];
447 }
448 # this is where that last takes me
449 }
450
451Whereas here's how a Perl programmer more comfortable with the idiom might
452do it:
453
454 OUTER: for my $wid (@ary1) {
455 INNER: for my $jet (@ary2) {
456 next OUTER if $wid > $jet;
457 $wid += $jet;
458 }
459 }
460
461See how much easier this is? It's cleaner, safer, and faster. It's
462cleaner because it's less noisy. It's safer because if code gets added
463between the inner and outer loops later on, the new code won't be
464accidentally executed. The C<next> explicitly iterates the other loop
465rather than merely terminating the inner one. And it's faster because
466Perl executes a C<foreach> statement more rapidly than it would the
467equivalent C<for> loop.
468
469=head2 Basic BLOCKs and Switch Statements
470X<switch> X<block> X<case>
471
472A BLOCK by itself (labeled or not) is semantically equivalent to a
473loop that executes once. Thus you can use any of the loop control
474statements in it to leave or restart the block. (Note that this is
475I<NOT> true in C<eval{}>, C<sub{}>, or contrary to popular belief
476C<do{}> blocks, which do I<NOT> count as loops.) The C<continue>
477block is optional.
478
479The BLOCK construct is particularly nice for doing case
480structures.
481
482 SWITCH: {
483 if (/^abc/) { $abc = 1; last SWITCH; }
484 if (/^def/) { $def = 1; last SWITCH; }
485 if (/^xyz/) { $xyz = 1; last SWITCH; }
486 $nothing = 1;
487 }
488
489There is no official C<switch> statement in Perl, because there are
490already several ways to write the equivalent.
491
492However, starting from Perl 5.8 to get switch and case one can use
493the Switch extension and say:
494
495 use Switch;
496
497after which one has switch and case. It is not as fast as it could be
498because it's not really part of the language (it's done using source
499filters) but it is available, and it's very flexible.
500
501In addition to the above BLOCK construct, you could write
502
503 SWITCH: {
504 $abc = 1, last SWITCH if /^abc/;
505 $def = 1, last SWITCH if /^def/;
506 $xyz = 1, last SWITCH if /^xyz/;
507 $nothing = 1;
508 }
509
510(That's actually not as strange as it looks once you realize that you can
511use loop control "operators" within an expression. That's just the binary
512comma operator in scalar context. See L<perlop/"Comma Operator">.)
513
514or
515
516 SWITCH: {
517 /^abc/ && do { $abc = 1; last SWITCH; };
518 /^def/ && do { $def = 1; last SWITCH; };
519 /^xyz/ && do { $xyz = 1; last SWITCH; };
520 $nothing = 1;
521 }
522
523or formatted so it stands out more as a "proper" C<switch> statement:
524
525 SWITCH: {
526 /^abc/ && do {
527 $abc = 1;
528 last SWITCH;
529 };
530
531 /^def/ && do {
532 $def = 1;
533 last SWITCH;
534 };
535
536 /^xyz/ && do {
537 $xyz = 1;
538 last SWITCH;
539 };
540 $nothing = 1;
541 }
542
543or
544
545 SWITCH: {
546 /^abc/ and $abc = 1, last SWITCH;
547 /^def/ and $def = 1, last SWITCH;
548 /^xyz/ and $xyz = 1, last SWITCH;
549 $nothing = 1;
550 }
551
552or even, horrors,
553
554 if (/^abc/)
555 { $abc = 1 }
556 elsif (/^def/)
557 { $def = 1 }
558 elsif (/^xyz/)
559 { $xyz = 1 }
560 else
561 { $nothing = 1 }
562
563A common idiom for a C<switch> statement is to use C<foreach>'s aliasing to make
564a temporary assignment to C<$_> for convenient matching:
565
566 SWITCH: for ($where) {
567 /In Card Names/ && do { push @flags, '-e'; last; };
568 /Anywhere/ && do { push @flags, '-h'; last; };
569 /In Rulings/ && do { last; };
570 die "unknown value for form variable where: `$where'";
571 }
572
573Another interesting approach to a switch statement is arrange
574for a C<do> block to return the proper value:
575
576 $amode = do {
577 if ($flag & O_RDONLY) { "r" } # XXX: isn't this 0?
578 elsif ($flag & O_WRONLY) { ($flag & O_APPEND) ? "a" : "w" }
579 elsif ($flag & O_RDWR) {
580 if ($flag & O_CREAT) { "w+" }
581 else { ($flag & O_APPEND) ? "a+" : "r+" }
582 }
583 };
584
585Or
586
587 print do {
588 ($flags & O_WRONLY) ? "write-only" :
589 ($flags & O_RDWR) ? "read-write" :
590 "read-only";
591 };
592
593Or if you are certain that all the C<&&> clauses are true, you can use
594something like this, which "switches" on the value of the
595C<HTTP_USER_AGENT> environment variable.
596
597 #!/usr/bin/perl
598 # pick out jargon file page based on browser
599 $dir = 'http://www.wins.uva.nl/~mes/jargon';
600 for ($ENV{HTTP_USER_AGENT}) {
601 $page = /Mac/ && 'm/Macintrash.html'
602 || /Win(dows )?NT/ && 'e/evilandrude.html'
603 || /Win|MSIE|WebTV/ && 'm/MicroslothWindows.html'
604 || /Linux/ && 'l/Linux.html'
605 || /HP-UX/ && 'h/HP-SUX.html'
606 || /SunOS/ && 's/ScumOS.html'
607 || 'a/AppendixB.html';
608 }
609 print "Location: $dir/$page\015\012\015\012";
610
611That kind of switch statement only works when you know the C<&&> clauses
612will be true. If you don't, the previous C<?:> example should be used.
613
614You might also consider writing a hash of subroutine references
615instead of synthesizing a C<switch> statement.
616
617=head2 Goto
618X<goto>
619
620Although not for the faint of heart, Perl does support a C<goto>
621statement. There are three forms: C<goto>-LABEL, C<goto>-EXPR, and
622C<goto>-&NAME. A loop's LABEL is not actually a valid target for
623a C<goto>; it's just the name of the loop.
624
625The C<goto>-LABEL form finds the statement labeled with LABEL and resumes
626execution there. It may not be used to go into any construct that
627requires initialization, such as a subroutine or a C<foreach> loop. It
628also can't be used to go into a construct that is optimized away. It
629can be used to go almost anywhere else within the dynamic scope,
630including out of subroutines, but it's usually better to use some other
631construct such as C<last> or C<die>. The author of Perl has never felt the
632need to use this form of C<goto> (in Perl, that is--C is another matter).
633
634The C<goto>-EXPR form expects a label name, whose scope will be resolved
635dynamically. This allows for computed C<goto>s per FORTRAN, but isn't
636necessarily recommended if you're optimizing for maintainability:
637
638 goto(("FOO", "BAR", "GLARCH")[$i]);
639
640The C<goto>-&NAME form is highly magical, and substitutes a call to the
641named subroutine for the currently running subroutine. This is used by
642C<AUTOLOAD()> subroutines that wish to load another subroutine and then
643pretend that the other subroutine had been called in the first place
644(except that any modifications to C<@_> in the current subroutine are
645propagated to the other subroutine.) After the C<goto>, not even C<caller()>
646will be able to tell that this routine was called first.
647
648In almost all cases like this, it's usually a far, far better idea to use the
649structured control flow mechanisms of C<next>, C<last>, or C<redo> instead of
650resorting to a C<goto>. For certain applications, the catch and throw pair of
651C<eval{}> and die() for exception processing can also be a prudent approach.
652
653=head2 PODs: Embedded Documentation
654X<POD> X<documentation>
655
656Perl has a mechanism for intermixing documentation with source code.
657While it's expecting the beginning of a new statement, if the compiler
658encounters a line that begins with an equal sign and a word, like this
659
660 =head1 Here There Be Pods!
661
662Then that text and all remaining text up through and including a line
663beginning with C<=cut> will be ignored. The format of the intervening
664text is described in L<perlpod>.
665
666This allows you to intermix your source code
667and your documentation text freely, as in
668
669 =item snazzle($)
670
671 The snazzle() function will behave in the most spectacular
672 form that you can possibly imagine, not even excepting
673 cybernetic pyrotechnics.
674
675 =cut back to the compiler, nuff of this pod stuff!
676
677 sub snazzle($) {
678 my $thingie = shift;
679 .........
680 }
681
682Note that pod translators should look at only paragraphs beginning
683with a pod directive (it makes parsing easier), whereas the compiler
684actually knows to look for pod escapes even in the middle of a
685paragraph. This means that the following secret stuff will be
686ignored by both the compiler and the translators.
687
688 $a=3;
689 =secret stuff
690 warn "Neither POD nor CODE!?"
691 =cut back
692 print "got $a\n";
693
694You probably shouldn't rely upon the C<warn()> being podded out forever.
695Not all pod translators are well-behaved in this regard, and perhaps
696the compiler will become pickier.
697
698One may also use pod directives to quickly comment out a section
699of code.
700
701=head2 Plain Old Comments (Not!)
702X<comment> X<line> X<#> X<preprocessor> X<eval>
703
704Perl can process line directives, much like the C preprocessor. Using
705this, one can control Perl's idea of filenames and line numbers in
706error or warning messages (especially for strings that are processed
707with C<eval()>). The syntax for this mechanism is the same as for most
708C preprocessors: it matches the regular expression
709
710 # example: '# line 42 "new_filename.plx"'
711 /^\# \s*
712 line \s+ (\d+) \s*
713 (?:\s("?)([^"]+)\2)? \s*
714 $/x
715
716with C<$1> being the line number for the next line, and C<$3> being
717the optional filename (specified with or without quotes).
718
719There is a fairly obvious gotcha included with the line directive:
720Debuggers and profilers will only show the last source line to appear
721at a particular line number in a given file. Care should be taken not
722to cause line number collisions in code you'd like to debug later.
723
724Here are some examples that you should be able to type into your command
725shell:
726
727 % perl
728 # line 200 "bzzzt"
729 # the `#' on the previous line must be the first char on line
730 die 'foo';
731 __END__
732 foo at bzzzt line 201.
733
734 % perl
735 # line 200 "bzzzt"
736 eval qq[\n#line 2001 ""\ndie 'foo']; print $@;
737 __END__
738 foo at - line 2001.
739
740 % perl
741 eval qq[\n#line 200 "foo bar"\ndie 'foo']; print $@;
742 __END__
743 foo at foo bar line 200.
744
745 % perl
746 # line 345 "goop"
747 eval "\n#line " . __LINE__ . ' "' . __FILE__ ."\"\ndie 'foo'";
748 print $@;
749 __END__
750 foo at goop line 345.
751
752=cut
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