"There are six ways of doing anything in Perl." So say I on Perl courses and just occasionally I come up with an example that proves it. This one doesn't quite - I show you just five ways of finding the names of all the files in the current directory:

$stuff = `ls`;
 
@fings = glob("*");
 
opendir(DH,".");
@allfings = readdir(DH);
 
@another = <*>;
 
open (FH,"ls|");
@yetmore = <FH>;

Why so many different options? A good question, partly answered by the fact that they're all slightly different in what they do, so each has its ideal use. But I'll admit that the language probably didn't need THAT many ways all in quite common use. It does keep me on my toes on Perl Programming Courses such as the one I ran last week.
(written 2008-07-14 08:14:15)

 P207 - Perl - File Handling
  [2405] But I am reading from a file - no need to prompt (Perl) - (2009-09-14)
  [2233] Transforming data in Perl using lists of lists and hashes of hashes - (2009-06-12)
  [1861] Reactive (dynamic) formatting in Perl - (2008-10-31)
  [1860] Seven new intermediate Perl examples - (2008-10-30)
  [1841] Formatting with a leading + / Lua and Perl - (2008-10-15)
  [1442] Reading a file multiple times - file pointers - (2007-11-23)
  [1416] Good, steady, simple example - Perl file handling - (2007-10-30)
  [1312] Some one line Perl tips and techniques - (2007-08-21)
  [867] Being sure to be positive in Perl - (2006-09-15)
  [702] Iterators - expressions tha change each time you call them - (2006-04-27)
  [618] Perl - its up to YOU to check your file opened - (2006-02-23)
  [616] printf - a flawed but useful function - (2006-02-22)
  [255] STDIN, STDOUT, STDERR and DATA - Perl file handles - (2005-03-23)
  [114] Relative or absolute milkman - (2004-11-10)
  [12] How many people in a room? - (2004-08-12)

P215 - Perl - More about Files
  [1832] Processing all files in a directory - Perl - (2008-10-11)
  [1225] Perl - functions for directory handling - (2007-06-09)

P602 - Perl - Advanced File and Directory Handling
  [975] Answering ALL the delegate's Perl questions - (2006-12-09)
  [839] Reporting on the 10 largest files or 10 top scores - (2006-08-20)

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