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in reply to Re^2: Hmmm: while(), file handle and $_ gotcha
in thread Hmmm: while(), file handle and $_ gotcha

Hold up. How does one variable - two, if you did what I do and use a variable for the outer read as well - equate to clutter? I'd probably remove the unused $cnt if I was going to knock clutter out.

use Modern::Perl; while (my $line = <DATA>) { if ( $. % 10 == 1 ) { print $line; } for (0 .. 3) { my $important_line = <DATA>; print $important_line; } }

I realize this is a matter of personal aesthetics, of course. I was just a little confused how declaring and using a variable (and avoiding weird behavior from <DATA>) was better than declaring an unused variable and getting the weird behavior.

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Re^4: Hmmm: while(), file handle and $_ gotcha
by ikegami (Patriarch) on Mar 06, 2009 at 17:48 UTC

    Using a variable is even required if you want to add error checking.

    while (my $line = <DATA>) { if ( $. % 10 == 1 ) { print $line; } for (0 .. 3) { defined( my $important_line = <DATA> ) or die("Premature EOF\n"); print $important_line; } }

      For small values of "required".

      print( scalar <DATA> // die "Premature EOF\n" );

      (But don't do that, because the version with the explicit variable is obviously right, whereas the version without one forces the reader to pause and wonder whether it will work or not. So it is, I suppose, required in the sense of "required by any sane coding standards" ...)