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[perl #28396] bug or wrong doc for 'foreach $lexical'

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From:
James E Keenan via RT
Date:
December 17, 2011 20:02
Subject:
[perl #28396] bug or wrong doc for 'foreach $lexical'
Message ID:
rt-3.6.HEAD-14510-1324180960-1002.28396-15-0@perl.org
On Thu Apr 08 21:35:31 2004, h.b.furuseth@usit.uio.no wrote:
> 
> 
> About `foreach $var (...)', the perlsyn manual page says,
> 
>     If the variable was previously declared with "my", it uses
>     that variable instead of the global one,
> 
> That is not true.  It creates a new lexical variable for the loop with
> the same name as the outside variable, exactly as if one had written
> `foreach my $var'.  If it was the same variable, functions outside the
> loop would see the loop variable, but they don't.  They see the "my"
> variable which was declared outside the loop.  I suppose that's what
>    you
> mean with this addition to the above text:
> 
>     but it's still localized to the loop.
> 
> but that does not really make sense.  That sounds like the value of
>    the
> "outer" lexical variable would be saved, and restored after the loop.
> That's how it works with non-lexical variables.
> 
>     my $var = "original value";
>     foreach $var ("loop-value") {
>         print "foreach: $var, ";
>         f();
>     }
>     print "end: $var\n";
>     sub f { print "function: $var\n"; }
> -->
>     foreach: loop-value, function: original value
>     end: original value
> 

While reviewing older tickets, I have read this several times.  Each
time I read it, I tend to believe it.

But then, when I go and read 'perldoc perlsyn' (the section on "Foreach
Loops"), I'm perfectly fine with what I read *there*.  There's a final
sentence in that paragraph that helps clarify things for me:  "This
implicit localization occurs *only* in a 'foreach' loop."

So I don't think there's a bug here, and the current documentation makes
sense to me with respect to the poster's example above.

What do other people think?

Thank you very much.
Jim Keenan

> 
> BTW, I think this is a misfeature which should get a warning.  If one
> has such a loop which intends the variable to be global, inserting a
> `my' previously in the code silently breaks the loop even though that
> new `my' variable isn't actually used in the loop.  And there is no
>    need
> for this feature since one can just say `foreach my $var' instead of
> `foreach $var'.
> 
> 
> [Please do not change anything below this line]
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
> Flags:
>     category=docs
>     severity=medium
> ---
> Site configuration information for perl v5.8.0:
> 
> Configured by bhcompile at Wed Aug 13 11:45:59 EDT 2003.
> 
> Summary of my perl5 (revision 5.0 version 8 subversion 0)
>    configuration:
>   Platform:
>     osname=linux, osvers=2.4.21-1.1931.2.382.entsmp, archname=i386-
>    linux-thread-multi
>     uname='linux stripples.devel.redhat.com 2.4.21-1.1931.2.382.entsmp
>    #1 smp wed aug 6 17:18:52 edt 2003 i686 i686 i386 gnulinux '
>     config_args='-des -Doptimize=-O2 -g -pipe -march=i386 -mcpu=i686
>    -Dmyhostname=localhost -Dperladmin=root@localhost -Dcc=gcc
>    -Dcf_by=Red Hat, Inc. -Dinstallprefix=/usr -Dprefix=/usr
>    -Darchname=i386-linux -Dvendorprefix=/usr -Dsiteprefix=/usr
>    -Dotherlibdirs=/usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0 -Duseshrplib -Dusethreads
>    -Duseithreads -Duselargefiles -Dd_dosuid -Dd_semctl_semun -Di_db
>    -Ui_ndbm -Di_gdbm -Di_shadow -Di_syslog -Dman3ext=3pm -Duseperlio
>    -Dinstallusrbinperl -Ubincompat5005 -Uversiononly
>    -Dpager=/usr/bin/less -isr'
>     hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
>     usethreads=define use5005threads=undef useithreads=define
>    usemultiplicity=define
>     useperlio=define d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define usesocks=undef
>     use64bitint=undef use64bitall=undef uselongdouble=undef
>     usemymalloc=n, bincompat5005=undef
>   Compiler:
>     cc='gcc', ccflags ='-D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DTHREADS_HAVE_PIDS
>    -DDEBUGGING -fno-strict-aliasing -I/usr/local/include
>    -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gdbm',
>     optimize='-O2 -g -pipe -march=i386 -mcpu=i686',
>     cppflags='-D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DTHREADS_HAVE_PIDS
>    -DDEBUGGING -fno-strict-aliasing -I/usr/local/include
>    -I/usr/include/gdbm'
>     ccversion='', gccversion='3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)',
>    gccosandvers=''
>     intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=1234
>     d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define,
>    longdblsize=12
>     ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t',
>    lseeksize=8
>     alignbytes=4, prototype=define
>   Linker and Libraries:
>     ld='gcc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
>     libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib
>     libs=-lnsl -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lpthread -lc -lcrypt -lutil
>     perllibs=-lnsl -ldl -lm -lpthread -lc -lcrypt -lutil
>     libc=/lib/libc-2.3.2.so, so=so, useshrplib=true,
>    libperl=libperl.so
>     gnulibc_version='2.3.2'
>   Dynamic Linking:
>     dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-
>    rdynamic
>    -Wl,-rpath,/usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi/CORE'
>     cccdlflags='-fPIC', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib'
> 
> Locally applied patches:
>     MAINT18379
> 
> ---
> @INC for perl v5.8.0:
>     /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi
>     /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0
>     /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi
>     /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0
>     /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl
>     /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi
>     /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.0
>     /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl
>     /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0/i386-linux-thread-multi
>     /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0
>     .
> 
> ---
> Environment for perl v5.8.0:
>     HOME=/usit/saruman/gt-u1/hbf
>     LANG (unset)
>     LANGUAGE (unset)
>     LC_CTYPE=no_NO
>     LD_LIBRARY_PATH (unset)
>     LOGDIR (unset)
>     PATH=/usr/bin:/usit/saruman/gt-u1/hbf/bin:/usit/saruman/gt-
>   
u1/hbf/bin/linux:/local/bin:/local/gnu/bin:/local/sbin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games
>     PERL_BADLANG (unset)
>     SHELL=/local/gnu/bin/bash




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