perlfunc
gods
<P>
goto - create spaghetti code
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<P>
goto
<FONT SIZE=-1>LABEL</FONT>
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goto
<FONT SIZE=-1>EXPR</FONT>
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goto <CODE>&NAME</CODE>
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<P>
The <CODE>goto-LABEL</CODE> form finds the statement labeled with
<FONT SIZE=-1>LABEL</FONT> and resumes execution there. It may not be used
to go into any construct that requires initialization, such as a subroutine
or a <CODE>foreach</CODE> loop. It also can't be used to go into a construct that is optimized away,
or to get out of a block or subroutine given to [perlfunc:sort|sort()]. It can be used to go almost anywhere else within the dynamic scope,
including out of subroutines, but it's usually better to use some other
construct such as [perlfunc:last|last] or [perlfunc:die|die()]. The author of Perl has never felt the need to use this form of [perlfunc:goto|goto] (in Perl, that is--C is another matter).
<P>
The <CODE>goto-EXPR</CODE> form expects a label name, whose scope will be resolved dynamically. This
allows for computed [perlfunc:goto|goto]s per
<FONT SIZE=-1>FORTRAN,</FONT> but isn't necessarily recommended if you're
optimizing for maintainability:
<P>
<PRE> goto ("FOO", "BAR", "GLARCH")[$i];
</PRE>
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The <CODE>goto-&NAME</CODE> form is highly magical, and substitutes a call to the named subroutine for
the currently running subroutine. This is used by
<CODE>AUTOLOAD</CODE> subroutines that wish to load another subroutine and then pretend that the
other subroutine had been called in the first place (except that any
modifications to <CODE>@_</CODE> in the current subroutine are propagated to the other subroutine.) After
the [perlfunc:goto|goto], not even [perlfunc:caller|caller()]
will be able to tell that this routine was called first.
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