My() Hero! - Perl

Let's now talk a little bit about the variables used within a subroutine, and their relationship with variables in the main program. Unless you specify otherwise, the variables used within a subroutine are global - that is, the values assigned to them are available throughout the program, and changes made to them during subroutine execution are not restricted to the subroutine space alone.

For a clearer example of what this means, consider this simple example:

#!/usr/bin/perl
# define a subroutine
sub change_value
{
$hero = "Wolverine";
}
# define a variable
$hero = "The Incredible Hulk";
# before invoking subroutine
print "Today's superhero is $hero\n";
print "Actually, I've changed my mind...";
&change_value;
# after invoking subroutine
print "...gimme $hero instead.\n";

And here's what you'll see:

---

Today's superhero is The Incredible Hulk
Actually, I've changed my mind......gimme Wolverine instead.

---

Obviously, this is not always what you want - there are numerous situations where you'd prefer the variables within a subroutine to remain "private", and not disturb the variables within the main program. And this is precisely the reason for Perl's my() construct.

The my() construct allows you to define variables whose influence does not extend outside the scope of the subroutine within which they are enclosed. Take a look:

#!/usr/bin/perl
# define a subroutine
sub change_value
{
# this statement added
my ($hero);
$hero = "Wolverine";
}
# define a variable
$hero = "The Incredible Hulk";
# before invoking subroutine
print "Today's superhero is $hero\n";
print "Actually, I've changed my mind...";
&change_value;
# after invoking subroutine
print "...gimme $hero instead.\n";

And here's what you'll get:

---

Today's superhero is The Incredible Hulk
Actually, I've changed my mind......gimme The Incredible Hulk instead.

---

What happens here? Well, when you define a variable with the "my" keyword, Perl first checks to see if a variable already exists with the same name. If it does [as in the example above], its value is stored and a new variable is created for the duration of the subroutine. Once the subroutine has completed its task, this new variable is destroyed and the previous value of the variable is restored.

The my() operator can be used with both scalar and array variables. And - since Perl is all about efficiency - you can assign a value to the variable at the same that that you declare it, like this:

sub change_value
{
my ($hero) = "Wolverine";
}

This article copyright Melonfire 2000. All rights reserved.

Next: The Age Gauge >>

>>> More Perl Programming Articles          >>> More By Vikram Vaswani and Harish Kamath, (c) Melonfire

blog comments powered by Disqus