a, b, - and c?

[~greg]

Why does this work...
use strict;
$|=1;
sub Test
{
(*a,*b) = @_;
print "$a\n$b\n";
}
my $A = 'this is';
my $B = 'a test';
Test(\$A,\$B);
(prints:
this is
a test)

....but this doesn't?
use strict;
$|=1;
sub Test
{
(*a,*c) = @_;
print "$a\n$c\n";
}
my $A = 'this is';
my $C = 'a test';
Test(\$A,\$C);
(Variable "$c" is not imported at ... line...
Global symbol "$c" requires explicit package name at ... line ...)

?

(Something to do with 'sort()' maybe?)

 

[Sisyphus]

Why does this work...
use strict;
$|=1;
sub Test
{
(*a,*b) = @_;
print "$a\n$b\n";
}
my $A = 'this is';
my $B = 'a test';
Test(\$A,\$B);
(prints:
this is
a test)

...but this doesn't?
use strict;
$|=1;
sub Test
{
(*a,*c) = @_;
print "$a\n$c\n";
}
my $A = 'this is';
my $C = 'a test';
Test(\$A,\$C);
(Variable "$c" is not imported at ... line...
Global symbol "$c" requires explicit package name at ... line ...)

?

(Something to do with 'sort()' maybe?)

Yep - in that $a and $b are special (as you probably know).
So, as soon as you name the variable(s) something other than 'a' or 'b', you
need to take extra steps.

This does the right thing:

use strict;
use warnings;
$|=1;
sub Test
{
our ($x, $y);
(*x,*y) = @_;
print "$x\n$y\n";
}
my $A = 'this is';
my $C = 'a test';
Test(\$A,\$C);

Cheers,
Rob

 

[~greg]

very satisfying!

thanks, all

~greg