Re: Checking number of values returned

I'd say that unless you habitually and religiously always assign your functions to individual scalars, eg: my( $x, $y, $z ) = yourfunc();, then there is no way to do this check.

If you assign your function to:

an array: my @vals = yourFunc();
or a hash: my %hash = yourFunc();
or use it in a for loop: for my $x ( yourFunc() ){
or to map; ... map{ ... } yourFunc();
or grep; ... grep{ ... } yourFunc();
or as an arg to any other function: someFunc( 1, 'fred', yourFunc() ); user or built-in;

then there is no way to know how many values it should return.

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". I'm with torvalds on this

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. Agile (and TDD) debunked

Comment on Re: Checking number of values returned Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Checking number of values returned by jfrm (Monk) on Feb 09, 2015 at 09:39 UTC
Well now you make me think about it, I suppose that I do habitually assign my functions to individual scalars. Perhaps this is the XY problem referred to earlier but actually I find that doing it this way makes my code much more understandable so would argue that it's a good thing. Anyway, even if I only did it only 30% of the time, it would still seems to be a valid useful thing to check for those 30% that were checkable...	[reply]
Re^3: Checking number of values returned by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Feb 09, 2015 at 13:09 UTC
Well now you make me think about it, I suppose that I do habitually assign my functions to individual scalars. Perhaps this is the XY problem referred to earlier It sounds like the XY problem is that you've come to Perl from another language and haven't yet fully made the transition. I have the reverse problem. Every time I use C; I find my self wishing I could return multiple -- and variable numbers of -- values from functions:) And the funny thing is that if you always assigned your results to an array, it would be much easier to check the number of returned values: `my @results = someFunc(); die unless @results == 3; ...` [download] With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday' Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". I'm with torvalds on this In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. Agile (and TDD) debunked	[reply] [d/l]


Come for the quick hacks, stay for the epiphanies.
	PerlMonks