>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Lazzaro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Michael> Do people really do that? I must say, given that it looks *so Michael> obviously* like it instead means [$a,$b,$c], I wonder if attempting to Michael> take a reference to a list should be a compile-time error. Michael> Note that this is still OK: Michael> \($a) # same as \$a Michael> because as previously discussed, it's the commas making the list, not Michael> the parens. But \($a,$b,$c) seems like a bug waiting to happen. I Michael> don't use it. Can someone give an example of an actual, proper, use? It was to make "pass by reference" easier, before prototypes if I recall: myfunc \($a, @b, %c); which means the same as if we had said: sub myfunc (\$ \@ \%); myfunc($a, @b, %c); Except that the prototyped version mandates the specific types. -- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/> Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl training!