http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=818431


in reply to Assignment to a value only if it is defined

If bar() is a complex function, then perhaps it should be the one returning the default value...

If that's not reasonable, then perhaps you need a default wrapper or something... Here's two ideas:

sub mybar { my $t = bar(); return "default" unless defined $t; return $t; } sub default { my $to_call = shift; my $default = shift; my $t = to_call->(@_); return $default unless defined $t; return $t; }

Or just do what the others said above (5.10+ only): $x = bar() // "default";

-Paul