@breakfast = ("sausage","bacon","eggs");
# List Context
@b = @breakfast;
print @b," ... a list \n";
# Scalar Context
$c = @breakfast;
print $c," ... a scalar \n";
# Double Quote Context
$d = "@breakfast";
print $d," ... in double quotes \n";
__END__
Perl doesn't have arrays - it has lists which can do all the good things an array can do, and
much much more. This piece of code is a reminder of how a Perl list can be referred to in
different contexts ... giving you the contents, the contents with a space between each element,
and a count of the number of elements in the list with the most subtle of syntax changes.
Results when run:
earth-wind-and-fire:~/aug04 grahamellis$ perl nugget
sausagebaconeggs ... a list
3 ... a scalar
sausage bacon eggs ... in double quotes
earth-wind-and-fire:~/aug04 grahamellis$
(written 2004-08-25, updated 2006-06-05)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
P208 - Perl - Lists [140] Comparison Chart for Perl programmers - list functions - (2004-12-04)
[230] Course sizes - beware of marketing statistics - (2005-02-27)
[240] Conventional restraints removed - (2005-03-09)
[355] Context in Perl - (2005-06-22)
[463] Splitting the difference - (2005-10-13)
[560] The fencepost problem - (2006-01-10)
[622] Queues and barrel rolls in Perl - (2006-02-24)
[762] Huge data files - what happened earlier? - (2006-06-15)
[773] Breaking bread - (2006-06-22)
[928] C++ and Perl - why did they do it THAT way? - (2006-11-16)
[968] Perl - a list or a hash? - (2006-12-06)
[1304] Last elements in a Perl or Python list - (2007-08-16)
[1316] Filtering and altering Perl lists with grep and map - (2007-08-23)
[1703] Perl ... adding to a list - end, middle, start - (2008-07-09)
[1828] Perl - map to process every member of a list (array) - (2008-10-09)
[1917] Out of memory during array extend - Perl - (2008-12-02)
[1918] Perl Socket Programming Examples - (2008-12-02)
[2067] Perl - lists do so much more than arrays - (2009-03-05)
[2226] Revision / Summary of lists - Perl - (2009-06-10)
[2295] The dog is not in trouble - (2009-07-17)
[2484] Finding text and what surrounds it - contextual grep - (2009-10-30)
[2813] Iterating over a Perl list and changing all items - (2010-06-15)
[2833] Fresh Perl Teaching Examples - part 2 of 3 - (2010-06-27)
[2996] Copying - duplicating data, or just adding a name? Perl and Python compared - (2010-10-12)
[3400] $ is atomic and % and @ are molecular - Perl - (2011-08-20)
[3548] Dark mornings, dog update, and Python and Lua courses before Christmas - (2011-12-10)
[3669] Stepping through a list (or an array) in reverse order - (2012-03-23)
[3870] Writing more maintainable Perl - naming fields from your data records - (2012-09-25)
[3906] Taking the lead, not the dog, for a walk. - (2012-10-28)
[3939] Lots of ways of doing the same thing in Perl - list iteration - (2012-12-03)
[4609] Mapping an array / list without a loop - how to do it in Perl 6 - (2016-01-03)
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