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The number of elements in an array can be determined either by evaluating the array in scalar context or with the help of the $# sigil. The latter gives the index of the last element in the array, not the number of elements. The expressions scalar(@array) and ($#array + 1) are equivalent.
Perl Data Language (abbreviated PDL) is a set of free software array programming extensions to the Perl programming language. PDL extends the data structures built into Perl, to include large multidimensional arrays , and adds functionality to manipulate those arrays as vector objects.
Perl 5 hashes are flat: keys are strings and values are scalars. However, values may be references to arrays or other hashes, and the standard Perl 5 module Tie::RefHash enables hashes to be used with reference keys. A hash variable is marked by a % sigil, to distinguish it from scalar, array, and other data types.
In functional programming, fold (also termed reduce, accumulate, aggregate, compress, or inject) refers to a family of higher-order functions that analyze a recursive data structure and through use of a given combining operation, recombine the results of recursively processing its constituent parts, building up a return value.
The basis behind array programming and thinking is to find and exploit the properties of data where individual elements are similar or adjacent. Unlike object orientation which implicitly breaks down data to its constituent parts (or scalar quantities), array orientation looks to group data and apply a uniform handling.
Impatient Perl – for readers with previous programming experience. Learn Perl in about a week. Learning Perl the Hard Way – for people who know another programming language. Higher-Order Perl – advanced programming in Perl; Perl phrasebook – compare equivalent examples of Perl and Python code, on the Python Wiki; Perl scripts
In Perl, foreach (which is equivalent to the shorter for) can be used to traverse elements of a list. The expression which denotes the collection to loop over is evaluated in list-context and each item of the resulting list is, in turn, aliased to the loop variable.
Perl provides three loop control keywords that all accept an optional loop label as an argument. If no label is specified, the keywords act on the innermost loop. Within nested loops, the use of labels enables control to move from an inner loop to an outer one, or out of the outer loop altogether.