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=head1 TITLE
C<chomp()> changes.
=head1 VERSION
Maintainer: Ted Ashton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 7 Aug 2000
Version: 1
Mailing List: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Number: 58
=head1 ABSTRACT
The current return value of C<chomp()> is little-used and tends to confuse
those learning perl. Here is presented a change to C<chomp()>'s return value
and to the C<while(E<lt>FILEHANDLEE<gt>)> construction.
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This RFC contains two proposed changes. First, as it is common to want to
removed newlines upon reading a file,
while (chomp(<FILEHANDLE>)) {
. . .
}
should become the equivalent of
while (<FILEHANDLE>) {
chomp;
. . .
}
or, to put it more explicitly,
while (defined($_ = <FILEHANDLE>)) {
chomp $_;
. . .
}
where the various equivalent constructions would, of course, work as expected.
Second, as it seems common for someone learning perl to expect
$without_newline = chomp($previous_form);
to put a copy of the text in C<$previous_form>, sans newline, into
C<$without_newline> while not modifying C<$previous_form>, Perl should
do just that.
C<chomp()> called in void context would remove the newline
from the variable (or members of the list) upon which it was called.
C<chomp()> called in a scalar context would leave its argument variable
untouched and instead return a C<chomp()>ed version of that variable's
contents. Likewise and furthermore for other contexts.
=head1 IMPLEMENTATION
As I know little about perl5 internals and even less about perl6, I shall
simply present the following notes:
=over 4
=item *
This proposal does not speak to what should happen with C<chop()>.
=item *
The proposed demise of C<$/> and stated determination that there will be no
default filehandle will have an effect on C<chomp()>. After all, that's how
it determines which character to seek at the end of the line.
=back 4
=head1 REFERENCES
The Camel II, pp 53 and 149.
