On Thu, Aug 02, 2001 at 11:55:35AM -0700, Paul wrote:
>
> --- Michael Fowler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > AFAIK, print <IN> is not special-cased to read chunk by chunk. In
> > fact, it's more ineffecient than simply slurping the entire file in
> > and then printing it. The syntax is equivalent to:
> >
> > print join($", <IN>);
>
> but wait a sec, print() is a list context, so <IN> should return all
> the lines of the file as elements of a list,
print() does impose a list context, and <IN> does evaluate to all of the
lines of the file as elements of a list. join also imposes a list context,
and <IN> would evaluate in the same manner.
> which print() should receive as seperate args.
It does.
> I assume that means they're all hanging in memory until printed,
They are, but they do so until they're joined, at which point a really big
line hangs around in memory.
> but why is that like the abovementioned join(), which would catenate them
> into a single scalar first?
You can only print a string. When print is given multiple arguments it
joins them with $" before printing. This is documented in perldoc -f print.
Michael
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