Re: Declaring my $var versus declaring my($var)

[moritz]

If you initialize your variables, the () makes a difference: context.

use strict;
use warnings;

sub print_context {
    say wantarray ? 'list' : 'scalar';
}

my $x   = print_context;
my ($y) = print_context;
__END__
scalar
list

Examples where this makes a difference:

my  $time1  = localtime;
my ($time2) = localtime; 

my  $rev1   = reverse $some_string;
my ($rev2)  = reverse $some_string;

[dh1760]

Now I understand why "in scalar context returns ..." has sometimes not returned what I expected. Amazing that I've probably coded tens of thousands of lines of perl over the years and have rarely been bitten by this difference. I suspect it's because any time it has caused an unexpected result, I've just figured out a different way to get what I needed.

I guess we're never too old to learn ... thanks for the lesson!

[Anonymous Monk]

From time to time a refresher helps :) Tutorials: Context in Perl: Context tutorial

Context is also covered in Modern Perl Released as Free ePub a loose description of how experienced and effective Perl 5 programmers work....You can learn this too.