What does Autovivify mean?

[bm]

in reply to Autovivify Module?

I hope this is not a silly question.
Can someone please define autovivify for me? I have seen it around the monastery but have never found a clear explanation...
Thanks
--
bm

[PodMaster]

It's documented in perlref(tut), perlfaq4(*), perlfunc as well as at "Autovivification".

If you're wondering how I know, I searched my pod for autovivi (and just typed in Autovivification in the search box above).

MJD says "you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo!"

I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6.x and 5.8.x -- I take requests (README).

** The third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.

[Anonymous Monk]

Vivify:to give life to; bring to life; to animate.

my $hash;
print "\$hash is: ", defined $hash ? $hash : "undefined", "\n";
if ($hash->{one}){
    print "'one' exists\n";
}
print "\$hash is: ", defined $hash ? $hash : "undefined", "\n";

$hash is undefined, but when we use it as if it were a reference to a hash ($hash->{one}) perl automatically brings a hash reference to life and stores it in $hash. Hence, it autovivifies the hash reference for us.