attributes don't like .=

[p5pRT]

Migrated from rt.perl.org#3605 (status was 'open')

Searchable as RT3605$

[p5pRT]

From @pdcawley

Created by @pdcawley

So, I was playing around, trying to make a japh when I did something like​:

perl -e 'my $var : locked .= "test"'

And perl fell over in a heap with​:

Invalid separator character '.' in attribute list at -e line 1, near "$var : locked "
syntax error at -e line 1, near "$var : locked "
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.

Is this a known bug? A known feature?

Perl Info

Flags:
    category=core
    severity=low

Site configuration information for perl v5.6.0:

Configured by pixel at Fri Mar 31 16:32:49 CEST 2000.

Summary of my perl5 (revision 5.0 version 6 subversion 0) configuration:
  Platform:
    osname=linux, osvers=2.2.15-0.16mdksmp, archname=i386-linux
    uname='linux kenobi.mandrakesoft.com 2.2.15-0.16mdksmp #1 smp mon mar 13 16:40:10 cet 2000 i686 unknown '
    config_args='-des -Dprefix=/usr -Darchname=i386-linux -Dd_dosuid -Dd_semctl_semun -Di_db -Di_ndbm -Di_gdbm -Ud_csh -Dman3dir=/usr/lib/perl5/man/man3 -Doptimize=-O3 -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -pipe -s -mpentium -mcpu=pentium -march=pentium -ffast-math -fexpensive-optimizations'
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
    usethreads=undef use5005threads=undef useithreads=undef usemultiplicity=undef
    useperlio=undef d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define 
    use64bitint=undef use64bitall=undef uselongdouble=undef usesocks=undef
  Compiler:
    cc='cc', optimize='-O3 -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -pipe -s -mpentium -mcpu=pentium -march=pentium -ffast-math -fexpensive-optimizations', gccversion=2.95.3 19991030 (prerelease)
    cppflags='-fno-strict-aliasing'
    ccflags ='-fno-strict-aliasing -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64'
    stdchar='char', d_stdstdio=define, usevfork=false
    intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8
    d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=12
    ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t', lseeksize=8
    alignbytes=4, usemymalloc=n, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='cc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
    libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib
    libs=-lnsl -ldl -lm -lc -lposix -lcrypt
    libc=/lib/libc-2.1.3.so, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-rdynamic'
    cccdlflags='-fpic', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib'

Locally applied patches:
    


@INC for perl v5.6.0:
    /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.0/i386-linux
    /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.0
    /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.0/i386-linux
    /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.0
    /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux
    /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005
    /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl
    .


Environment for perl v5.6.0:
    HOME=/home/pdcawley
    LANG=en
    LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
    LC_COLLATE=en_GB
    LC_CTYPE=en_GB
    LC_MESSAGES=en_GB
    LC_MONETARY=en_GB
    LC_NUMERIC=en_GB
    LC_TIME=en_GB
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH (unset)
    LOGDIR (unset)
    PATH=/home/postgres/bin:/home/postgres/bin:/home/pdcawley/bin:/opt/IBMJava2-13/bin:/home/postgres/bin:/home/postgres/bin:/home/pdcawley/bin:/opt/IBMJava2-13/bin:/home/postgres/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games
    PERL_BADLANG (unset)
    SHELL=/bin/bash

[p5pRT]

From module@renee-baecker.de

I don't know if this should be valid syntax. It's a declaration of a
variable, so there's nothing to concatenate...

[p5pRT]

From p5p@spam.wizbit.be

From the bug report​:

perl -e 'my $var : locked .= "test"'
Invalid separator character '.' in attribute list at -e line 1, near
"$var : locked "
syntax error at -e line 1, near "$var : locked "
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.

On Sat Jun 07 11​:27​:16 2008, reneeb wrote​:

I don't know if this should be valid syntax. It's a declaration of a
variable, so there's nothing to concatenate...

But​:

perl -e 'my $var .= "test";'

Does not produce a syntax error.

Should this inconsistency remain? Or should it go away?

[p5pRT]

From @cpansprout

On Tue Jun 10 03​:32​:54 2008, animator wrote​:

From the bug report​:

perl -e 'my $var : locked .= "test"'
Invalid separator character '.' in attribute list at -e line 1, near
"$var : locked "
syntax error at -e line 1, near "$var : locked "
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.

On Sat Jun 07 11​:27​:16 2008, reneeb wrote​:

I don't know if this should be valid syntax. It's a declaration of a
variable, so there's nothing to concatenate...

But​:

perl -e 'my $var .= "test";'

Does not produce a syntax error.

Should this inconsistency remain? Or should it go away?

It’s also a problem with just plain ‘.’. In fact, the introduction of
attributes broke this perfectly valid syntax​:

$ ./perl -Ilib -e '$ref = \($1 ? my $var : my $othervar)'
Invalid separator character '$' in attribute list at -e line 1, near
"$var : my "
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.

I’m not even sure how the attribute syntax should behave.

--

Father Chrysostomos

[p5pRT]

From @rjbs

* Father Chrysostomos via RT <perlbug-followup@​perl.org> [2012-09-25T15​:51​:31]

Should this inconsistency remain? Or should it go away?

"Surely" it should be fixed, but​:

It’s also a problem with just plain ‘.’. In fact, the introduction of
attributes broke this perfectly valid syntax​:

$ ./perl -Ilib -e '$ref = \($1 ? my $var : my $othervar)'
Invalid separator character '$' in attribute list at -e line 1, near
"$var : my "
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.

I’m not even sure how the attribute syntax should behave.

That's a heck of a nice bug you got there, chief. I want to say "it at least
needs a better error message," but then I start to think that if it was fixed
that far, it might be fixable.

Nasty.

--
rjbs