Mystery state (possibly about whether an argument is numeric?) being maintained across calls to a sub

[cheesestraws]

Here's a minimal test case that reliably reproduces a problem I've been having. As I understand perl, the three sets of print statements ought to produce the same output each time.

use strict;
no warnings "numeric";

print "Reusing one variable:\n";
my $val = "ff";
print "(" . ($val & "") . ")\n";
$val = 7;
print "(" . ($val & "") . ")\n";
$val = "ff";
print "(" . ($val & "") . ")\n";

print "\n";
print "Using multiple variables:\n";
my $v1 = "ff";
print "(" . ($v1 & "") . ")\n";
my $v2 = 7;
print "(" . ($v2 & "") . ")\n";
my $v3 = "ff";
print "(" . ($v3 & "") . ")\n";


print "\n";
print "Using a sub:\n";

sub xx {
    my $arg = shift;
    print "(" . ($arg & "") . ")\n";
}

xx("ff");
xx(7);
xx("ff");

Since xx has no side-effects except for output, there should be no state maintained between multiple calls to it.

However, what this code actually does seems to be depend on what version I'm running it under:

• Under 5.16.3 i386-openbsd and 5.14.2 x86_64-linux-gnu-thread-multi, it does what I'd expect, giving the output:

  Reusing one variable:
  ()
  (0)
  ()
  
  Using multiple variables:
  ()
  (0)
  ()
  
  Using a sub:
  ()
  (0)
  ()
  

• Under versions before 5.14, though, I get a different result (tested on v5.10.0 darwin-thread-multi-2level, 5.10.1 i486-linux-gnu-thread-multi and 5.12.4 darwin-thread-multi-2level, which are the versions I currently can get access to):

  Reusing one variable:
  ()
  (0)
  ()
  
  Using multiple variables:
  ()
  (0)
  ()
  
  Using a sub:
  ()
  (0)
  (0)
  

The output of the last set of prints no longer matches the previous two sets, which suggests that there's some state being preserved between calls to the sub. It looks a bit like $arg's numeric status is somehow getting "stuck".

Putting a print inside the subroutine that prints $arg verifies that $arg is receiving the right value. Putting intermediate calls to other subroutines, or other code, in between the calls to xx doesn't seem to change anything, either.

I've trudged my way through the perldeltas between 5.12 and 5.14 and I couldn't see anything relevant, but then I don't really know what it'd come under, and I don't know much about the innards of perl, so it's possible I've completely missed something.

Can anyone shed some light on why this is happening?

Thanks!

[BrowserUk]

Can anyone shed some light on why this is happening?

Yes. You :) Use Devel::Peek on $arg in the subroutine before and after you assign to it. Eg:

sub xx {
     my $arg;
     Dump( $arg );
     $arg =  shift;
     Dump( $arg );
     print "(" . ($arg & "") . ")\n";
 }

[cheesestraws]

Thankyou! Apparently I have managed to miss this tool entirely in my perl-ing to date.

[poj]

Possibly #20661 bug fix in 5.14.0 ?

http://search.cpan.org/~jesse/perl-5.14.0/pod/perldelta.pod#Fixes_to_Various_Perl_Operators
poj

[vsespb]

Seems no, not related to bitwise ops. Actually yes, this example shows that addition is not affected.

use Devel::Peek;
use strict;
no warnings "numeric";
sub xx {
    my $arg=shift;
    Dump( $arg );
    print "ARG+1=".($arg+1)."\n";
}
xx("ff");
xx(7);
xx("ff");
__END__

SV = PV(0x729b78) at 0x754ae0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK)
  PV = 0x747d90 "ff"\0
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 8
ARG+1=1
SV = PVNV(0x72b5f0) at 0x754ae0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,IOK,pIOK)
  IV = 7
  NV = 0
  PV = 0x747d90 "ff"\0
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 8
ARG+1=8
SV = PVNV(0x72b5f0) at 0x754ae0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK)
  IV = 7
  NV = 0
  PV = 0x747d90 "ff"\0
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 8
ARG+1=1

[BrowserUk]

It's not the operation, it is whether the argument is forced from numeric to string.

[cheesestraws]

From my slightly cargo-culty perspective on what's going on here, I think that bug looks like it - especially given that non-bitwise ops don't seem to show the weirdness, and since nor does putting the constant string in a variable before doing the &:

use Devel::Peek;
use strict;
no warnings "numeric";

sub xx {
        my $arg = shift;
        my $const = "";
        print "(" . ($arg & $const) . ")\n";
}

xx("ff");
xx(7);
xx("ff");

This code gives:

SV = PV(0x100802558) at 0x1008474e0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK)
  PV = 0x1002074f0 "ff"\0
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 8
()
SV = PVIV(0x100803c58) at 0x1008474e0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,IOK,pIOK)
  IV = 7
  PV = 0x1002074f0 "ff"\0
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 8
(0)
SV = PVIV(0x100803c58) at 0x1008474e0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK)
  IV = 7
  PV = 0x1002074f0 "ff"\0
  CUR = 2
  LEN = 8
()