http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=310419


in reply to open failure code

What all these wise monks forgot to tell you is how they arrived at the answer :)
perl -MO=Deparse,-p
$down="false";
open (FH, $log) || $down = "true";
__END__
Can't modify logical or (||) in scalar assignment at - line 2, near ""
+true";"
- had compilation errors.
($down = 'false');
((open(FH, $log) || $down) = 'true');

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B::Deparse

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom