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in reply to Re: while loop, search & replace
in thread while loop, search & replace

Thank you for your help. I'm still learning what "scalar" means. That solved my problem though. Cheers. PJT

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scalar vs list context
by ikegami (Patriarch) on Oct 01, 2004 at 19:12 UTC
    $a = something; # something is executed in a scalar context. @a = something; # something is executed in a list context. something; # something is executed in a void context. # Arrays return their number of elements in a scalar context: @b = qw( a b c ); print( @b , "\n"); # abc print(scalar(@b), "\n"); # 3 # print accepts a list, but scalar() forced scalar context. # Arithmetic forces scalar context: print(@b,"\n"); # abc print(@b."\n"); # 3 # Not just string arithmetic: print(@b, "\n"); # abc print(@b+0, "\n"); # 3 # Functions can examine their context: { local $, = ", "; local $\ = "\n"; print( localtime ); # 59, 14, 15, 1, 9, 104, 5, 274, 1 print(scalar(localtime)); # Fri Oct 1 15:05:32 2004 } # Refer to wantarray in perlfunc.