Luke Palmer wrote: > Ooh! Why don't we have a dont command! With several variants: > dont FILE > dont BLOCK > > dont { print "Boo" } > > Would print: > >
You really *should* be more careful what you wish for Luke. The following was just uploaded to the CPAN... Damian -----cut----------cut----------cut----------cut----------cut----------cut----- NAME Acme::Don't - The opposite of `do' VERSION This document describes version 1.00 of Acme::Don't, released May 1, 2002. SYNOPSIS use Acme::Don't; don't { print "This won't be printed\n" }; # NO-OP DESCRIPTION The Acme::Don't module provides a `don't' command, which is the opposite of Perl's built-in `do'. It is used exactly like the `do BLOCK' function except that, instead of executing the block it controls, it...well...doesn't. Regardless of the contents of the block, `don't' returns `undef'. You can even write: don't { # code here } while condition(); And, yes, in strict analogy to the semantics of Perl's magical `do...while', the `don't...while' block is *unconditionally* not done once before the test. ;-) Note that the code in the `don't' block must be syntactically valid Perl. This is an important feature: you get the accelerated performance of not actually executing the code, without sacrificing the security of compile-time syntax checking. LIMITATIONS Doesn't (yet) implement the opposite of `do STRING'. The current workaround is to use: don't {"filename"}; AUTHOR Damian Conway ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) BLAME Luke Palmer really should be *far* more careful what he idly wishes for. BUGS Unlikely, since it doesn't actually do anything. However, bug reports and other feedback are most welcome. COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 2002, Damian Conway. All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the Perl Artistic License (see http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html)