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Having implicit shared state dependent on the requested type is certainly not consistent. To a reasonably experienced perl programmer one would expect the follo

Having implicit shared state dependent on the requested type is certainly not consistent. To a reasonably experienced perl programmer one would expect the following: @globs = glob("*") # all matches $glob1 = glob("*") # the first match of "*" $glob2 = glob("*.c") # the first match of "*.c"

zzzcpan 12y ago
http://perldoc.perl.org/perldata.html#Context http://perldoc.perl.org/perldata.html#Context
prakashk 12y ago
It does return the values as expected. See my other reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8730798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8730798
- kbenson 12y ago
  Actually, it doesn't, and it's complicated. See my rather long-winded reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8730925 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8730925
kbenson 12y ago
I agree that's the behavior you would want for that example. That is almost the behavior you get when use use File::Glob's bsd_glob function. For some reason it instead appears to return the last alphanumerically sorted match instead of the first. I've submitted a bug about that as well as the general lack of documentation on the true behavior of the CORE::glob() function, as outlined in my other comment.
- zzzcpan 12y ago
  I disagree. You would expect what it says in documentation, and it says it should iterate over the list. If you want the first element of the list, you should say exactly that to the compiler, i.e. force list context and take the first element: ($file1) = glob("*");
  - kbenson 12y ago
    > I disagree I assume because you misread the example given there. If you note that $glob1 and $glob2 come from what should be different lists (all files in working dir and all files ending in .c in the working dir), then $glob1 and $glob2 should contain the first item each of their respective lists. That's exactly what the documentation says should happen. > You would expect what it says in documentation, and it says it should iterate over the list. Unfortunately it doesn't even do what it says in the documentation consistently. I have another comment here that outlines that fairly thoroughly. The behavior is very weird and specific to glob, and is not documented accurately.
    - zzzcpan 12y ago
      I guess I misread the example, sorry. I thought we were talking in the context of inconsistent behavior of Perl as a language and therefore its syntax, but not in the context of an undefined behavior of glob().
      - kbenson 12y ago
        We are and we aren't. elektronjunge chose an example that definitely is inconsistent, but I'm not sure that it's really indicative of Perl in general. IMHO, It's a fairly specific kind o broken, where we can't really fix the behavior because of backwards compatibility, but the documentation is just plain inadequate in this case as well.

zzzcpan 12y ago

http://perldoc.perl.org/perldata.html#Context http://perldoc.perl.org/perldata.html#Context

prakashk 12y ago

It does return the values as expected. See my other reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8730798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8730798

kbenson 12y ago
Actually, it doesn't, and it's complicated. See my rather long-winded reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8730925 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8730925

kbenson 12y ago

I agree that's the behavior you would want for that example. That is almost the behavior you get when use use File::Glob's bsd_glob function. For some reason it instead appears to return the last alphanumerically sorted match instead of the first. I've submitted a bug about that as well as the general lack of documentation on the true behavior of the CORE::glob() function, as outlined in my other comment.

zzzcpan 12y ago
I disagree. You would expect what it says in documentation, and it says it should iterate over the list. If you want the first element of the list, you should say exactly that to the compiler, i.e. force list context and take the first element: ($file1) = glob("*");
- kbenson 12y ago
  > I disagree I assume because you misread the example given there. If you note that $glob1 and $glob2 come from what should be different lists (all files in working dir and all files ending in .c in the working dir), then $glob1 and $glob2 should contain the first item each of their respective lists. That's exactly what the documentation says should happen. > You would expect what it says in documentation, and it says it should iterate over the list. Unfortunately it doesn't even do what it says in the documentation consistently. I have another comment here that outlines that fairly thoroughly. The behavior is very weird and specific to glob, and is not documented accurately.
  - zzzcpan 12y ago
    I guess I misread the example, sorry. I thought we were talking in the context of inconsistent behavior of Perl as a language and therefore its syntax, but not in the context of an undefined behavior of glob().
    - kbenson 12y ago
      We are and we aren't. elektronjunge chose an example that definitely is inconsistent, but I'm not sure that it's really indicative of Perl in general. IMHO, It's a fairly specific kind o broken, where we can't really fix the behavior because of backwards compatibility, but the documentation is just plain inadequate in this case as well.