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=head1 TITLE
More defaulting to C<$_>.
=head1 VERSION
Maintainer: Kenneth C. Rich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 12 Sep 2000
Mailing List: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Number: 215
Version: 1
Status: Developing
=head1 ABSTRACT
$_ is the default variable for some operations.
Some other operations might benefit from similar use of
$_ to reduce clutter.
=head1 DESCRIPTION
An inconsistency between "C<print>" and "<>" bugs me: "C<print;>" means
"C<print $_;>" so it seems like "<>" should mean "C<$_ = > <>".
I can't yet think of code that this extension would break.
Would this have an advantage in making the
while( <> ) {
}
syntax less magical?
Actually, some days I wish "print;" meant print nothing. I was tempted
to title this RFC "Make print and <> consistent."
I also would like making "push;" mean "push( @_, $_ );" and "pop;" mean
"$_ = pop;" but I B<can> think of code this would break. The same
wish and problem applies to other list operators. But maybe the problems
are easily fixed with the 5-to-6 converter changing perl5 "pop;" into
"undef = pop;" etc. Which ugliness is more preferable?
"gethostbyaddr;" could use $_, and so on.
Parts of this proposal may work nicely with
RFC 170: "Generalize =~ to a special-purpose assignment operator".
=head1 IMPLEMENTATION
...
=head1 REFERENCES
RFC 2: Request for new pragma: Implicit
RFC 51: Angle brackets should accept filenames and lists
RFC 56: Optional 2nd argument to pop() and shift()
RFC 170: Generalize =~ to a special-purpose assignment operator
