Re: why does location of function matter?

[BrowserUk]

I don't have any prototypes defined and I'm really at a loss as to why it should matter where the function is. Any ideas?

You don't show us the critical piece of information, namely the function definition; but from the error message, I'd guess that your function looks something like this:

sub PostValidate() {
#...............^^
   # stuff here. ...
}

Which defines a function that takes no arguments.

If that is seen before the function is called; it will complain that you passed too many arguments.

If it is not seen until after the function call is compiled, then the prototype is too late to be applied.

Does that fit your code?

[Anonymous Monk]

With warnings enabled that would cause a "X called too early to check prototype" warning.

[smartyollie]

##########################
sub PostValidate() {
##########################
my ($file) = @_;
my $cmd = "wc -l $file";
{more stuff}

[davido]

That should be written as:

sub PostValidate {
    ...
}

As you have it declared, sub PostValidate does declare a prototype. An empty prototype means no args may be passed (assuming Perl sees the subroutine is declared before its first use, as you've discovered).

[Anonymous Monk]

I don't have any prototypes defined

sub PostValidate() {

An empty prototype () is still a prototype.

You should always Use strict and warnings.