Re: [perl #77094] printf("a\n" =~ /b/)

On Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 05:18:13PM -0700, Father Chrysostomos wrote:
> # New Ticket Created by  Father Chrysostomos 
> # Please include the string:  [perl #77094]
> # in the subject line of all future correspondence about this issue. 
> # <URL: http://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=77094 >
> 
> 
> $ perl -le 'printf("a\n" =~ /b/)'
> a
> 
> That is very strange, to say the least.

I *think* that it's a bug, and that it's a bug in stack handling. In that
the match runs in list context, so should return an empty list, and then
printf should behave as for an empty list:

$ ./perl -Dts -we 'printf("a\n" =~ /b/)'
    =>  
(-e:1)  null
    =>  
(-e:1)  const(PV("a\n"\0))
    =>  PV("a\n"\0)  
(-e:1)  stringify

EXECUTING...

    =>  
(-e:0)  enter
    =>  
(-e:0)  nextstate
    =>  
(-e:1)  pushmark
    =>  *  
(-e:1)  const(PV("a\n"\0))
    =>  *  PV("a\n"\0)  
(-e:1)  match
    =>  *  
(-e:1)  prtf
a
    =>  SV_YES  
(-e:1)  leave


Compare with print, which does indeed print nothing:

$ ./perl -Dts -we 'print("a\n" =~ /b/)'
    =>  
(-e:1)  null
    =>  
(-e:1)  const(PV("a\n"\0))
    =>  PV("a\n"\0)  
(-e:1)  stringify

EXECUTING...

    =>  
(-e:0)  enter
    =>  
(-e:0)  nextstate
    =>  
(-e:1)  pushmark
    =>  *  
(-e:1)  const(PV("a\n"\0))
    =>  *  PV("a\n"\0)  
(-e:1)  match
    =>  *  
(-e:1)  print
    =>  SV_YES  
(-e:1)  leave


But I don't know why this is, or whether there are any other listops that
can be used to trigger the problem.

hmm, and I *think* that we have a documentation bug, in that 

$ ./perl -we 'printf'
Use of uninitialized value $_ in printf at -e line 1.

yet nowhere that I can find is it documented that printf with no arguments
defaults to using $_

[Thinking out loud, is that the problem - somehow the match is setting $_,
but not resetting it]

Nicholas Clark

• [perl #77094] printf("a\n" =~ /b/) by Father Chrysostomos
• Re: [perl #77094] printf("a\n" =~ /b/) by Nicholas Clark
• Re: [perl #77094] printf("a\n" =~ /b/) by Zefram
• Re: [perl #77094] printf("a\n" =~ /b/) by Zefram
• Re: [perl #77094] printf("a\n" =~ /b/) by Aristotle Pagaltzis