> [ ~~ vs. scalar ] The ~~ secret operator is old hat, good ol' inchworm:
http://www.catonmat.net/blog/secret-perl-operators/#inchworm BooK's innovation is to add <> and <>+0 to the end of it. BTW, in addition to inchworm-on-a-stick ~- to subtract one, I often use the converse -~ to add one (though only in Ruby and Python, not usually Perl). For example, -~1 produces 2 in Ruby and Python, but -4,294,967,294 in Perl. /-\
