Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jpl-devvax!lwall
From: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: extra line mystery
Message-ID: <8613@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: 5 Jul 90 23:19:20 GMT
References: <M1DIB00.90Jul5161800@mqws8.fed.frb.gov>
Reply-To: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Distribution: comp.lang.perl
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 17

In article <M1DIB00.90Jul5161800@mqws8.fed.frb.gov> m1dib00@fed.frb.gov (Douglas I. Battenberg) writes:
: The following script reads a file, edits some lines, and prints the whole
: thing back into a new file. The problem is the output file ends up with an
: extra blank line at the end.  If I count lines and print the array with a
: for loop, I get the correct number of lines. I've monitored this with the
: debugger but cannot see where the extra line is coming from. What am I
: missing here?
: 
: #! /usr/bin/perl
: 
: $\="\n";   #  set automatic newline for print statements

If you don't want a newline at the end, then you don't want to set $\ to 
a newline.  In general, avoid setting $\ (and $,), since they're mostly
there to emulate awk.

Larry