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perl error

by topaz (Initiate)
on Jul 28, 2011 at 22:46 UTC ( [id://917359]=perlquestion: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

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

Hi all, Could you please help me understand this error :s
>Scalar value @Matrix[$a] better written as $Matrix[$a] at ./test.pl l +ine 22. syntax error at ./test.pl line 22, near "][" Execution of ./test.pl aborted due to compilation errors.
------------------------------ from this code
use strict; #-- Define in/out files my $inf = "test.txt" ; #-- variables and handles my $line; my $a; my $b; my @result; my @Matrix = ( [(0) x 361], [(0) x 361]); #--Open the input and output files open (IN, "$inf") || die "Can't read $inf"; while ($line = <IN>) { @result = split(/\s+/, $line); $a = $result[0]; $a = int($phi); $b = $result[1]; $b = int($psi); @Matrix[($a+180)][($b+180)] += 1; }

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Re: perl error
by Tanktalus (Canon) on Jul 29, 2011 at 04:51 UTC

    I know this isn't part of your question, but I also want to add that you should read perldoc perlvar, specifically the part on special variables $a and $b. Long story short, don't use variables with those names, they're reserved. Besides, they're horrible names. $x and $y are less horrible only because they have standard mathematical meanings.

    Thus, your code should be more like this:

    use strict; use warnings; # important, too. #-- variables and handles my @Matrix = map { [ (0) x 361 ] } 0..360; #--Open the input and output files # use 3-arg open, use lexical filehandle, don't interpolate a variable # that doesn't need anything added to it, i.e., "$inf" is bad, but "$i +nf-foo" # is not, report WHY open fails, not merely that it has failed. open my $in, '<', $foo or die "Can't read $inf: $!"; # lexical $line with minimal scope, check for definedness # (if you have a line that is "0\n", you'll find your original code # will terminate early). while (defined (my $line = <IN>)) { # usually, split ' ', $line is what you want instead of /\s+/. # but they do slightly different things, so I'm not changing it. # Added "my" so we create a new @result each time. my @result = split(/\s+/, $line); # I'm guessing here since I don't know where $phi and $psi really # come from. my $phi = int($result[0]); my $psi = int($result[1]); # use $ instead of @ to signify we want a scalar value from # the array. Use ++ instead of += 1 because it's more idiomatic # though technically it's no big deal either way. $Matrix[$phi+180][$psi+180] ++; }
    Note that you're going from angle 0 through 360, which means that you're duplicating the ends. Normally, I'd think you'd want just 0..359 - because 360 and 0 are the same angle.

Re: perl error
by dreadpiratepeter (Priest) on Jul 28, 2011 at 22:57 UTC
    In the line in question, you are dealing with one element of the array, which is a scalar, so you use $ not @. To demonstrate with a simpler example, @a is an array. $a[0] is the first element in the array.


    -pete
    "Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere."
      you mean i should do some thing like this ? :s
      use strict; #-- Define in/out files my $inf = "test.txt" ; #-- variables and handles my $line; my $a; my $b; my @result; @row = ((0) x 361); @column = ((0) x 361); my @Matrix = ( @row, @column); #--Open the input and output files open (IN, "$inf") || die "Can't read $inf"; while ($line = <IN>) { @result = split(/\s+/, $line); $a = $result[0]; $a = int($phi); $b = $result[1]; $b = int($psi); @Matrix[$row[($a+180)]][$column[($b+180)]] += 1; }
        Actually, your code has a number of problems.
        • that isn't how you initialize a 2-dimensional array. your initialization of @matrix will make a 722 element 1d array. You would need something like: @matrix=map {[(0) x 361]} (0..361);
        • From what I can see you want:  $Matrix[$a+180][$b+180] += 1;

        I would suggest giving Modern Perl or Learning Perl and Programming Perl a good read to get down some of the fundamentals.

        Update: Also you set $a and $b to values, then immediately set them to int($phi) and int($psi) which are undefined. If you were running with strict and warnings the compiler would have shown you that.



        -pete
        "Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere."
Re: perl error
by toolic (Bishop) on Jul 29, 2011 at 00:44 UTC
Re: perl error
by cdarke (Prior) on Jul 29, 2011 at 07:53 UTC
    The prefix character (also known as a sigil) for an element of an array (and hash) is often confusing for new-comers to Perl. It does not indicate the type of the variable name which follows it, but the type of the whole expression.
    For example, take:
    my @Matrix; $Matrix[$a] = 1;
    Perl knows that 'Matrix' is an array because of the [ ] which follows the name (just as if it was a hash it would have { } following). The $ indicates the context of what is inside the [ ], in this case a scalar. Using @ would indicate that a list of indexes is inside the [ ], which is perfectly legal, and generally known as a slice.

    The above only applies to Perl 5, Perl 6 is another country (but on the same continent).

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