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 xorThis belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop.
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 an array or hash is in X, then the value of that variable is inserted into the string in place of the variable. Arrays are formatted using $":
my $interpolated_value = join $", @array;To place a " character 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.
my $name = "World";
my $string = "Hello, $name!\n"; # $string is now "Hello World!\n";"qq(X)", "'X'", "q(X)", "$"" in perlvar, and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop.
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 an array or hash is in X, then the value of that variable is inserted into the string in place of the variable. Arrays are formated using $" (which is a space by default):
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.
my $name = "World";
my $string = qq/Hello, $name!\n/; # $string is now "Hello World!\n";"q(X)", "'X'" "X", "$"" in perlvar, and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop.
This is the single quote operator (AKA the non-interpolating string operator). It creates a string literal out of X.
To place a ' character inside the string, you must escape it with \:
my $quote = 'He said \'I like quotes.\'';To place a \ character 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.
my $name = 'World';
my $string = 'Hello, $name!\n'; # $string is now "Hello \$name!\\n";"X", "qq(X)", "q(X)", "$"" in perlvar, and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop.
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 $okay = 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/;To place a \ character inside the string, you may escape it with another \:
my $quote = q/This, \\, is a backslash./;but this is only necessary when the \ is followed by the closing delimiter:
my $fine = q/This, \, is a backslash./;
my $required = q/This is a backslash:\\/;Unlike double quoted strings, the escaping of the delimiter and \ are the only escapes.
For a full discussion of how strings work, see "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop.
my $name = "World";
my $string = q/Hello, $name!\n/; # $string is now "Hello \$name!\\n";"X", "'X'", "qq(X)", "$"" in perlvar, and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop.
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} # worksBut 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.
my @a = qw/ a b c /; # @a is now ("a", "b", "c")
my @b = qw/ $foo $bar /; # @b is now ('$foo', '$bar')"'X'", "q(X)", and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop and "Quote and Quote-like Operators" in perlop.
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; hence 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 an array slice is created. 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; hence they are converted to a number before the list is used. Each item will be turned into 0 if it cannot be converted (and a warning is thrown if warnings are turned on). The operator returns a list of items from the array X at the indexes in the list generated by Y.
Note: The string contents of elements of Y are not modified by the internal conversion to numerical values.
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')This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop.
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; hence 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.
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")This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop.
This is the hash index operator. It retrieves the value associated with the key Y from a hash X. If Y is a list of keys then a slice is returned (see perldata for information about slices).
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 => 2, c => 3, d => 1)This belongs to "The Arrow Operator" in perlop.
This is the infix array dereferencing operator (AKA the Arrow Operator). It fetches the value at position Y in the array referenced by X. X is a simple scalar variable, an expression (an array element or a hash value), or a function returning a reference to an array. 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.
my @a = ("a", "b", "c");
my $aref = \@a;
my $x = $aref->[1]; # $x is now "b"
$aref->[3] = "d"; # @a is now ("a", "b", "c", "d")
my $aoa = [
[0, 1, 2 ],
["a", "b", "c"],
];
my $y = $aoa->[1][1]; # $y is now "b""\X", "@{X}", "${X}[Y]", perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "The Arrow Operator" in perlop.
This is the infix hash dereferencing operator (AKA the Arrow Operator). It fetches the value associated with the key Y in a hash referenced by X. X may be a scalar variable, an expression(an array element or a hash value the resolves to a hash-reference), or a subroutine that returns a hash-reference.
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.
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
my $z = $hoh->{b}{b}; # $z is now 5"\X", "%{X}", "${X}{Y}", perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "The Arrow Operator" in perlop.
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.
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""\X", perlsub, perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop.
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 is 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.
my $x = 5;
my $sref = \$x;
my @a = ($sref);
$$sref = 6; # $x is now 6
${$a[0]} = 7; # $x is now 7
no strict "refs";
our $y = $x; #$y is now 7
my $bad = "y";
$$bad = 8; # $y is now 8"\X", perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop.
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 the 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.
my @a = qw(a b c);
my $aref = \@a;
${$aref}[0] = 1; # @a is now (1, "b", "c")
no strict "refs";
our @b = @a; # @b is now (1, "b", "c")
my $bad = "b";
${$bad}[5] = "d"; # @b is now (1, "b", "c", undef, undef, "d")"\X", "X->[Y]", perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop.
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 the 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.
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";
our %newh = %h; # %newh is now (a => 4, b => 2, c => 3)
my $bad = "newh";
${$bad}{d} = 4; # %newh is now (a => 4, b => 2, c => 3, d => 4)"\X", "X->{Y}", perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop.
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 .. 3);
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 an array reference then the value of the referenced item is returned. If X does not evaluate to an 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.
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";
our @c = @a; # @c is now (4, 5, 6)
my $bad = "c";
@{$bad}[0] = 8; # @c is now (8, 5, 6)"\X", perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "Terms and List Operators (Leftward)" in perlop.
If X is the name of a hash 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.
my %h;
my $href = \%h;
my @a = ($href);
%$href = (a => 1); # %h is now (a => 1)
no strict "refs";
our %newh = %h; # %newh is now (a => 1)
my $bad = "newh";
@{$bad}{"c", "d"} = (3, 4); #%newh is now (a => 1, c => 3, d => 4)"\X", perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "Auto-increment and Auto-decrement" in perlop.
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 pre-increment of an undef value will return 1 rather than undef).
The incrementing occurs before the use of the value.
my $x = 4;
my $y = ++$x; # $x and $y are now 5
my $q = "200 Quatloos for the newcomer";
my $r = ++$q; # $q and $r are both now 201
my $s = "a";
my $t = ++$s; # $s and $t are now "b"
my $m;
my $n = ++$m; # $n is now 1This belongs to "Auto-increment and Auto-decrement" in perlop.
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.
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).
my $x = 4;
my $y = $x++; # $x is now 5 and $y is now 4
my $q = "200 Quatloos for the newcomer";
my $r = $q++; # $q is now 201 and $r is "200 Quatloos for the newcomer"
my $s = "a";
my $t = $s++; # $s is now "b" and $t is now "a"
my $m;
my $n = $m++; # $n is now 0This belongs to "Auto-increment and Auto-decrement" in perlop.
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).
my $x = 5;
my $y = --$x; # $x and $y are now 4
my $q = "200 Quatloos for the newcomer";
my $r = --$q; # $q and $r are both now 199
my $s = "foo";
my $t = --$s; # $s and $t are now -1
my $m;
my $n = --$m; # $n is now -1This belongs to "Auto-increment and Auto-decrement" in perlop.
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).
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"
my $m;
my $n = $m--; # $n is now 0This belongs to "Exponentiation" in perlop
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).
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"X **= Y" and "log" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Symbolic Unary Operators" in perlop.
This is the high-precedence logical negation operator. It performs logical negation, i.e., "not". If X is a true value it returns the "Canonical False Value" otherwise it returns "Canonical True Value". There is a low-precedence version: not.
It is occasionally used in pairs (!!) to convert any false value to the "Canonical False Value" and any true value to the "Canonical True Value".
my $m = !5; # $m is now the canonical false value
my $n = !0; # $n is now the canonical true value
my $o = !""; # $o is now the canonical true value
my $p = !undef; # $p is now the canonical true value
my $q = !!5; # $q is now the canonical true value
my $r = !!0; # $r is now the canonical false value
my $s = !!""; # $s is now the canonical false value
my $t = !!undef; # $t is now the canonical false valueThis belongs to "Symbolic Unary Operators" in perlop.
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).
my $x = ~0x00_00_00_00; # $x is now 0xFF_FF_FF_FF on 32-bit machines"Bitwise String Operators" in perlop and "Integer Arithmetic" in perlop
This belongs to "Symbolic Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
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
$href->{b} = 5; # %h is now (a => 1, b => 5, c => 3)
my @keys = sort keys %$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);"X->[Y]", "X->{Y}", X->(Y), perlreftut, and perlref
This belongs to "Symbolic Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
print (split ",", "a,b,c,d")[2], "\n"; # syntax error
print +(split ",", "a,b,c,d")[2], "\n"; # prints "c\n"This belongs to "Symbolic Unary Operators" in perlop.
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).
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]This belongs to "Binding Operators" in perlop.
This is the binding operator. It applies a regex match (m//), substitution (s///), or transliteration (tr/// or y///) PATTERN against a string variable.
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 PATTERN 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.
my $x = "foo bar baz";
# This will print "matched\n"
if ($x =~ /foo/) {
print "matched\n";
}This belongs to "Binding Operators" in perlop.
This is the negative binding operator. It applies a regex match (m//), substitution (s///), or transliteration (tr/// or y///) PATTERN against a string variable.
When used in scalar context, the return value is the opposite of what the return value would have been if the =~ had been used. 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 PATTERN 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.
# This will print "matched\n"
if ("foo bar baz" !~ /foo/) {
print "didn't match\n";
} else {
print "matched\n";
}This belongs to "Multiplicative Operators" in perlop.
This is the multiplication operator; it returns the product of 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).
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 160This belongs to "Multiplicative Operators" in perlop.
This is the division operator; it returns the quotient of X divided 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.
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)
my $d = 2/"five"; # dies (2/0)This belongs to "Multiplicative Operators" in perlop.
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 1And 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 -3From 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.
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 1This belongs to "Multiplicative Operators" in perlop.
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).
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 "abcdabcd"This belongs to "Additive Operators" in perlop.
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).
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 42This belongs to "Additive Operators" in perlop.
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).
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 42This belongs to "Additive Operators" in perlop.
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.
my $x = "foo" . "bar"; #$x is now "foobar"
my @a = (1 .. 10);
my $y = "the number of elements in \@a is " . @a;This belongs to "Shift Operators" in perlop.
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). =head3 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 12This belongs to "Shift Operators" in perlop.
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).
my $x = 0x00_FF_00_FF >> 8; # $x is now 0x00_00_FF_00
my $y = 12 >> 1; # $y is now 6This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
if (defined -r "/etc/passwd") {
if (-r _) {
print "/etc/passwd is readable\n";
} else {
print "/etc/passwd is not readable\n";
}
} else {
print "/etc/passwd doesn't exist\n";
}"$>" in perlvar, "$)" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
if (defined -w "/etc/passwd") {
if (-w _) {
print "/etc/passwd is writable\n";
} else {
print "/etc/passwd is not writable\n";
}
} else {
print "/etc/passwd doesn't exist\n";
}"$>" in perlvar, "$)" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
if (defined -x $0) {
if (-x _) {
print "this script is executable\n";
} else {
print "this script is not executable\n";
}
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}"$>" in perlvar, "$)" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
if (defined -o $0) {
if (-o _) {
print "this script is owned by $>\n";
} else {
print "this script is not owned by $>\n";
}
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}"$>" in perlvar, "$)" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
if (defined -R "/etc/passwd") {
if (-R _) {
print "/etc/passwd is readable\n";
} else {
print "/etc/passwd is not readable\n";
}
} else {
print "/etc/passwd doesn't exist\n";
}"$<" in perlvar, "$(" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 $_.
If given the _ special filehandle as an argument, it will use cached information from the previous call to stat or a filetest operator.
if (defined -W "/etc/passwd") {
if (-W _) {
print "/etc/passwd is writable\n";
} else {
print "/etc/passwd is not writable\n";
}
} else {
print "/etc/passwd doesn't exist\n";
}"$<" in perlvar, "$(" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
if (defined -X $0) {
if (-X _) {
print "this script is executable\n";
} else {
print "this script is not executable\n";
}
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}"$<" in perlvar, "$(" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
if (defined -O $0) {
if (-O _) {
print "this script is owned by $>\n";
} else {
print "this script is not owned by $>\n";
}
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}"$<" in perlvar, "$(" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
if (-e $0) {
print "this script exists\n";
} else {
print "this script doesn't exist on the filesystem\n";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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.
if (defined -s "/tmp/somefile") {
print "somefile is ", -s _, " byte(s) long\n";
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and is a regular file, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the directory exists , the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file or directory exists and is a symbolic link, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and is a pipe, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and is a socket, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and is a block special file, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and is a character special file, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
This is the socket filetest operator. FILE must be a filehandle or an expression that returns one. It returns the "Canonical True Value" if the filehandle is opened to a tty or undef if it is not.
If given no arguments, it will operate on $_.
if (-t STDOUT) {
print "output is going to a console\n";
} else {
print "output is being redirected\n";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and has its setuid set, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and has its setgid set, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
if (defined -g "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-g _) {
print "somefile has setgid set\n";
} else {
print "somefile dosn't have setgid set\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and has its sticky bit set, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
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";
}"-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and appears to be a text file, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
if (defined -T "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-T _) {
print "somefile looks like a text file\n";
} else {
print "somefile looks like a data file\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}"-B", "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
This is the binary filetest operator. FILE must be a filename, filehandle, or an expression that returns one of the preceding values. It returns the "Canonical True Value" if the file exists and appears to be a binary file, the "Canonical False Value" 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.
if (defined -B "/tmp/somefile") {
if (-B _) {
print "somefile looks like a data file\n";
} else {
print "somefile looks like a text file\n";
}
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}"-T", "-X" in perlfunc and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 $^T, so modifying this variable will have an affect on the results of calling -M on a file.
if (-M "somefile") {
print "it has been ", -M _, " days since somefile was modified\n";
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}"$^T" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc, and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 $^T, so modifying this variable will have an affect on the results of calling -A on a file.
Warning: many filesystems now turn off atime updating.
if (-A "somefile") {
print "it has been ", -A _, " days since somefile was accessed\n";
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}"$^T" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc, and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Named Unary Operators" in perlop.
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 $^T, so modifying this variable will have an affect on the results of calling -A on a file.
Warning, different filesystems have different ideas about what the ctime is. In Unix, the ctime is the inode change time. The ctime is updated when a change occurs to the file's inode (permissions change, ownership change, etc.).
if (-C "somefile") {
print "it has been ", -C _, " days since somefile was accessed\n";
} else {
print "somefile doesn't exist\n";
}"$^T" in perlvar, "-X" in perlfunc, and "stat" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Relational Operators" in perlop
This is the numeric less than operator. It returns the "Canonical True Value" if X is numerically less than Y or the "Canonical 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).
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";
}"X <= Y", "X lt Y", and "X le Y"
This belongs to "Relational Operators" in perlop
This is the numeric greater than operator. It returns the "Canonical True Value" if X is numerically greater than Y or the "Canonical 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).
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";
}"X >= Y" "X gt Y", and "X ge Y"
This belongs to "Relational Operators" in perlop
This is the numeric less than or equal to operator. It returns the "Canonical True Value" if X is numerically less than or equal to Y or the "Canonical 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).
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";
}"X < Y", "X lt Y", and "X le Y"
This belongs to "Relational Operators" in perlop
This is the numeric greater than or equal to operator. It returns the "Canonical True Value" if X is numerically greater than or equal to Y or the "Canonical False Value" if X is less than 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).
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";
}"X > Y", "X gt Y", and "X ge Y"
This belongs to "Relational Operators" in perlop
This is the lexical less than operator (also known as the string less than operator or the stringwise less than operator). It returns the "Canonical True Value" if X is less than Y and the "Canonical False Value" 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).
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 locale is weird)\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false (unless the locale is weird)\n";
}"X < Y", "X <= Y", and "X le Y" "X cmp Y"
This belongs to "Relational Operators" in perlop
This is the lexical greater than operator (also known as the string greater than operator or the stringwise greater than operator). It returns the "Canonical True Value" if X is greater than Y and the "Canonical False Value" 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).
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 locale is weird)\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false (unless the locale is weird)\n";
}"X > Y", "X "= Y>, and "X ge Y"
This belongs to "Relational Operators" in perlop
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 the "Canonical True Value" if X is less than or equal to Y and the "Canonical False Value" 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).
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 locale is weird)\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false (unless the locale is weird)\n";
}"X < Y", "X <= Y", and "X lt Y"
This belongs to "Relational Operators" in perlop
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 the "Canonical True Value" if X is greater than Y and the "Canonical False Value" 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).
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 locale is weird)\n";
} else {
print "it should always be false (unless the locale is weird)\n";
}"X > Y", "X >= Y", "X gt Y", and "X cmp Y"
This belongs to "Equality Operators" in perlop.
This is the numeric equality operator. It returns the "Canonical True Value" if X and Y evaluate as the same number and the "Canonical False Value" if they don't.
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";
}if (5 == 5) {
print "this will be true unless Perl is broken\n"
}"X != Y", "X eq Y", and "X ne Y"
This belongs to "Equality Operators" in perlop.
This is the numeric not equals operator. It returns the "Canonical True Value" if X does not evaluate to the same numeric value as Y, and the "Canonical False Value" if it doesn't.
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";
}if (5 != 4) {
print "this will be true unless Perl is broken\n"
}"X == Y", "X eq Y", and "X ne Y"
This belongs to "Equality Operators" in perlop.
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).
my $x = 4 <=> 5; # x is now negative
my $y = 5 <=> 5; # y is now 0
my $z = 6 <=> 5; # z is now positiveThis belongs to "Equality Operators" in perlop.
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.
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";
}"X == Y", "X != Y", and "X ne Y"
This belongs to "Equality Operators" in perlop.
This is the lexical not equals operator (AKA the string not equals operator or the stringwise not equals operator). It returns the "Canonical False Value" if X and Y evaluate as the same string, and the "Canonical True Value" if they don't.
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";
}"X == Y", "X != Y", and "X eq Y"
This belongs to "Equality Operators" in perlop.
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;my $x = "a" cmp "b"; #$x is now negative
my $y = "b" cmp "b"; #$x is now 0
my $z = "c" cmp "b"; #$x is now positiveThis belongs to "Equality Operators" in perlop.
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.
See "Smart matching in detail" in perlsyn for examples.
"~~X", "Smart matching in detail" in perlsyn, and "scalar" in perlfunc
This belongs to "Bitwise And" in perlop.
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 | 1That 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.
# 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 "`""X and Y", "X && Y", "Integer Arithmetic" in perlop and "Bitwise String Operators" in perlop.
This belongs to "Bitwise Or and Exclusive Or" in perlop.
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 | 1That 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.
# 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""X or Y", "X xor Y", "X || Y", "X // Y", "X ^ Y", "Integer Arithmetic" in perlop, and "Bitwise String Operators" in perlop.
This belongs to "Bitwise Or and Exclusive Or" in perlop.
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 | 0That 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.
# 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}""X or Y", "X xor Y", "X || Y", "X // Y", "X | Y", "Integer Arithmetic" in perlop and "Bitwise String Operators" in perlop.
This belongs to "C-style Logical And" in perlop.
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 $y = 5) and 4;It is most commonly used in conditional statements such as if, unless, while.
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"This belongs to "C-style Logical Or" in perlop.
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 $y = 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.
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""X or Y", "X xor Y", "X | Y", "X // Y", and "X ^ Y"
This belongs to "C-style Logical Defined-Or" in perlop.
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 5.010).
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;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"X or Y", "X xor Y", "X || Y", "X | Y", and "X ^ Y"
This belongs to "Range Operators" in perlop.
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 returns true the flip-flop 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.
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 .. $i == 4) {
print "$i\n";
}
}This belongs to "Range Operators" in perlop.
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.
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 ... $i == 4) {
print "$i\n";
}
}This belongs to "Conditional Operators" in perlop.
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.
# 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"Compound-Statements" in perlsyn
This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
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/; # $modified is now "barbar"
# $str is still "foobar"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).
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 3This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the exponentiation assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X ** YThat 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).
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x **= $y; # $x is now 2 ** 8 or 256This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the addition assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X + YThat 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).
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x += $y; # $x is now 2 + 8 or 10This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the subtraction assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X - YThat 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).
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x -= $y; # $x is now 2 - 8 or -6This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the concatenation assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X . YThat 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).
my $x = "foo";
my $y = "bar";
$x .= $y; #$x is now "foobar"
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x .= $y; # $x is now 2 . 8 or "28"This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the multiplication assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X * YThat 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).
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x *= $y; # $x is now 2 * 8 or 16This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the division assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X / YThat 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.
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x /= $y; # $x is now 2 / 8 or 0.25This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the modulo assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X % YThat 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.
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x %= $y; # $x is now 2 % 8 or 2This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the scalar repetition assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X x YThat 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.
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x x= $y; # $x is now 2 x 8 or "22222222"This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the bitwise and assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X & YThat 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).
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x &= $y; # $x is now 2 & 8 or 0This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the bitwise or assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X | YThat 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).
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x |= $y; #$x is now 2 | 8 or 10This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the bitwise xor assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X ^ YThat 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).
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
my $z = 7;
$x ^= $y; # $x is now 0b0010 ^ 0b1000 or 0b1010 or 10
$x ^= $z; # $x is now 0b1010 ^ 0b0111 or 0b1101 or 13This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the left bit-shift assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X << YThat 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).
my $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
$x <<= $y; # $x is now 2 << 8 or 512This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the right bit-shift assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X >> YThat 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).
my $x = 8;
my $y = 2;
$x >>= $y; # $x is now 8 >> 2 or 2This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the logical and assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X && YThat is it assigns X to itself if X evaluates to false, 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).
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 0This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the logical or assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X || YThat 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 valueThis 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.
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
$z ||= $x + $y; # $z is now undef || (2 + 8) or 10"X = Y", "X || Y", and "X //= Y"
This belongs to "Assignment Operators" in perlop.
This is the defined-or assignment operator. It is equivalent to
X = X // YIt 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 valuemy $x = 2;
my $y = 8;
my $z;
$x //= $y; # $x is now 2 // 8 or 2
$z //= $x; # $z is now undef // 2 or 2This belongs to "Comma Operators" in perlop.
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, 3To 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.
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); # $y is now "f"This belongs to "Comma Operators" in perlop.
This is the fat comma operator. It behaves much in the same way as the comma operator (creates lists in list context, returns the last value in scalar context), but it has a special property: it stringifies X if X is a bareword (i.e. it matches /^[a-zA-Z_]\w+$/). 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",
);# %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,
);This belongs to "Logical Not" in perlop.
This is the low-precedence logical negation operator. It performs logical negation, i.e., "not". It returns the "Canonical False Value" if X is true, otherwise it returns the "Canonical True Value". There is a high-precedence version: !.
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 1This belongs to "Logical And" in perlop.
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 $x = 5 and 4; # is equivalent to (my $x = 5) and 4;whereas:
my $y = 5 && 4; # is equivalent to my $y = (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();
}
}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"This belongs to "Logical or, Defined or, and Exclusive Or" in perlop.
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 $x = 5 or 4; # is equivalent to (my $x = 5) or 4;whereas:
my $y = 5 || 4; # is equivalent to my $y = (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).
my $w = "";
my $x = 0;
my $y = 1;
my $z = "foo";
# Note the use of parentheses vs this example in ||
print(($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""X xor Y", "X || Y", "X // Y", "X | Y", and "X ^ Y"
This belongs to "Logical or, Defined or, and Exclusive Or" in perlop.
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.
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 """X or Y", "X || Y", "X // Y", "X | Y", and "X ^ Y"
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.
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.
my $x = !!"this is a true value"; # $x is now true
my $y = !!0; # $y is now ""This secret operator is the list assignment operator (AKA the countof operator). It is made up of two items (), and =. In scalar context it returns the number of items in the list X. In list context it returns an empty list. It is useful when you have something that returns a list and you want to know the number of items in that list and don't care about the list's contents. It is needed because the comma operator returns the last item in the sequence rather than the number of items in the sequence when it is placed in scalar context.
It works because the assignment operator returns the number of items available to be assigned when its left hand side has list context. In the following example there are five values in the list being assigned to the list ($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.
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"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.
my @a = qw/a b c d/;
print ~~@a, "\n"; # prints 4"~X", "X ~~ Y", and "scalar" in perlfunc
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.
# 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'The canonical true value is a tri-value, that is it contains a floating point number (1.0), integer (1), and string ("1"). It is possible, but inadvisable, to change its value. Which of the three value gets used in an expression depends on how the value is used (e.g. if the expression expects a string then the string value will be used).
The canonical false value is a tri-value, that is it contains a floating point number (0.0), integer (0), and string (""). It is possible, but inadvisable, to change its value. Which of the three value gets used in an expression depends on how the value is used (e.g. if the expression expects a string then the string value will be used).
Hey! The above document had some coding errors, which are explained below:
- Around line 2521:
-
L<> starts or ends with whitespace