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perlcgi has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'm processing very large text files of delimited records, and localizing $/ to be my delimiter works great. 
{local $/ = "DELIMITER"; 
    while( <FILE> ){ 
       do_this();
       do_that();
       do_the_other();
    } 
}

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However, I don't like having $/ altered for the scope of the entire while-loop 'cos that's pretty much my whole program and it could have consequences for the subroutines within the loop. I'm seeking a nice idiom to return it to its previous value, after it has done it's thing, for each iteration. Suggestions much appreciated.

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•Re: Seeking an idiom for localizing $/
by merlyn (Sage) on Apr 29, 2004 at 15:29 UTC
[reply]
[d/l]
      Thanks once again Randal.
      A grateful perlcgi makes mental note to purchase his own copy of Learning Perl Objects, References & Modules and wonders if this idiom is well know, or just an off-the-cuff creation of the wizard.
[reply]
        wonders if this idiom is well know, or just an off-the-cuff creation of the wizard
        Just synthesized from smaller idioms. It's not that I'm necessarily a wizard: I just remember lots of little things that work, and put them together in interesting ways.

        -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
        Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

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Re: Seeking an idiom for localizing $/
by ihb (Deacon) on Apr 30, 2004 at 00:25 UTC
    Just don't forget to localize $_ too.
[reply]
[d/l]

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