if statement question

[dicty]

I see if statement with only a variable in the condition (), such as if ($search) { ... }. What's the condition for $search? I feel very confused about this code. Thanks, Dicty

[toolic]

If $search has a true value, the code block inside the curlies will be executed. If not, the code inside the curlies won't be executed.

Tip #2 from the Basic debugging checklist: display the contents of variables using print:

print ">>>$search<<<";
if ($search) {
}

[nubbel]

The condition is, weather $search could be evaluated to true, see http://www.perlmonks.org/?node=what%20is%20true%20and%20false%20in%20Perl%3F

[nithins]

use strict;

## scalar has not been initialized here the value in $result is undef
my $result;

print "hi" if ($result); 

### scalar has been initialized and the value here is 12
 
$result = 12;

print $result if($result);

In 1st ,if condition looks for the value of a variable "$result" in this case its just declared its not been initialized hence if is evaluated as false and doesn't print "Hi"

In second, if condition looks for the value of a variable, its present & value is 12 , then if is evaluated as true and it print's "hi".