[RFC] Perl Operator List, TAKE 6

[Michael Lazzaro]

Adjusted for the most recent notes: includes «op» as the preferred (and possibly only) spelling of "vectorize". Everything but a few hyperop issues appears to be close to final, by my count: if/when Larry sticks a fork() in it, it's done.

hyperoperators:

«op» - When used with any unary or binary operator,
"vectorizes" the operator.
»op« - [maybe] same, but intersection instead of union.
^[op] - [maybe] synonym for «op»
- [maybe] synonym for »op«

unary (prefix) operators:

\ - reference to
* - list flattening
? - force to bool context
! - force to bool context, negate
not - force to bool context, negate
+ - force to numeric context
- - force to numeric context, negate
~ - force to string context
^ - complement, type-specific
. - method call on current topic
.= - method call on current topic, replaces topic

++ - preincrement
-- - predecrement

unary and other postfix operators:

These are used as postfix operators when encountered where
an operator is expected. No space is allowed between these
postfixes and the elements they are operating on.

++ - postincrement
-- - postdecrement

... - synonym for ..Inf

() - method call
[] - array access
{} - hash access


binary operators:

< > <= >= == != <=> - comparision (numeric)
lt gt le ge eq ne cmp - comparision (string)

+ - * / % ** - arithmetic
+= -= *= /= %= **=

~ ~= - string concat
x x= - string repetition
xx xx= - list replication

&& || ^^ // - boolean operations
&&= ||= ^^= //=
and or xor err

+& +| +^ << >> - bitwise (integer) operations
+&= +|= +^= <<= >>=

~& ~| ~^ - charwise (string) operations
~&= ~|= ~^=

?& ?| ?^ - C-like boolean operations
?&= ?|= ?^= - (result is always just 1 or 0)

& | ^ - superpositional operations
&= |= ^= - conjunctive, disjunctive, exclusive
all any one none - conj, disj, excl, dismissive

~~ !~ - smart match, smart non-match

=> - pair creator
, - list creator
; - "greater comma", list-of-lists creator
: - adverbial
. - method call

.. - range
^.. - [maybe] range, exclusive of endpoint(s)
..^
^..^

= - assignment
:= - runtime binding
::= - compiletime binding


trinary operator:

?? :: - if/else


parens, misc, and quotelike operators:

These may appear where a term is expected.

()
[]
{}

m// - shorthand, "matches"
s/// - shorthand, "substitute"
tr/// - shorthand, "transliterate"

'...' "..." `...` /.../
q qq qx rx qw [qm?]

<...> - iteration
(heredocs) - [exact format unknown; probably as perl5]


magical whitespace modifier:

_ - When used at the end of a line or between
statement elements, acts to "remove" whitespace
when interpreting the statement. (Allows
whitespace to appear without invoking any
special interpretations normally associated
with that whitespace.)


named unary (prefix) operators, terms, and other
important assorteds, identified when possible:

-X - [op] filetest operators

ref - [op]
exists - [op]
delete - [op]
defined - [op]
undef - [op]
undef - [term]
temp - [op]
let - [op]
but - [op] val properties

${ } - [deref] dereference scalarref
@{ } - [deref]
%{ } - [deref]
&{ } - [deref]

... - [term] yada**3
Inf - [term]
NaN - [term]

is - [declar] var properties
-> - [declar] like 'sub'
hash - [declar] force hash context


MikeL