CODEWITHSUNDEEP
perl
shaq
shaq

Reputation: 849

Unquoting a String in Perl

I have a subroutine in Perl sub findfiles , I have to pass a quoted value "*/*" as input parameter since it complains without quoting ,on the other hand in my subroutine I needed it to be unquoted (may be!)The problem is when I print the value to check ,I don't see any quote,or any thing but may be there are some special hidden character or something I don't know ? My codes work properly when I use */*directly but not when I pass it as as an input parameter Do you have any idea?

sub findfiles {

    $dirname=$_[0];
    my @temp = grep {-f} <$dirname>;
    print @temp;       

}
&findfiles("*/*"); doesnot work

but 
   sub findfiles {

    $dirname=$_[0];
    my @temp = grep {-f} <*/*>;
    print @temp;       

}

does its job

Upvotes: 2

Views: 150

Answers (3)

TLP
TLP

Reputation: 67908

With your updated code, I can see where your error lies. While 

my @temp = grep {-f} <*/*>;

Works as a glob

my @temp = grep {-f} <$dirname>;

Is interpreted as a readline() on the file handle $dirname.

If you want to avoid ambiguity you can use the function for glob:

my @temp = grep -f, glob $dirname;

You might also be interested in using File::Find, which finds files recursively.

NOTE: This problem could have been avoided if you had warnings turned on. As a rule of thumb, coding in perl without using

use strict;
use warnings;

...is a very bad idea. These two pragmas will help you identify problems with your code.

Upvotes: 8

Axeman
Axeman

Reputation: 29854

Do you know about File::Find? 

use File::Find ();

File::Find::find( sub { say $File::Find::name if -f; } => $my_root );

Or what about File::Find::Rule (see file)?

say foreach File::Find::Rule->file->in( $my_root );

Upvotes: 1

Quentin
Quentin

Reputation: 943591

The problem is when I print the value to check ,I don't see any quote

$test="*/*"
          ^string delimiter
       ^^^string
      ^string delimiter

When you print a string (be it from a string literal, a scalar or whatever) you print the string.

The delimiters don't get printed. They just tell perl where the edges of the data are.

Upvotes: 2

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