Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!bfmny0!tneff
From: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: $! and string context
Message-ID: <15668@bfmny0.BFM.COM>
Date: 13 Jul 90 03:10:32 GMT
References: <1990Jul13.175014.1750@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU>
Reply-To: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Lines: 16

In article <1990Jul13.175014.1750@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU> worley@compass.com writes:
>People might be interested to note that the conditional expression in
>an 'if' is a string context, which I didn't expect.  The
>string/numeric context difference seems to usually be unimportant, but
>$! is an exception:
>
>	die "Can't do ..." if $!;

Try using the standard workaround for this sort of thing:

	dir "Can't do ..." if 0+$!;


-- 
"Nature loves a vacuum.  Digital    \O@/    Tom Neff
  doesn't." -- DEC sales letter     /@O\    tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM