Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!ucbvax!hplabs!hpcc01!hpccc!weisberg
From: weisberg@hpccc.HP.COM (Len Weisberg)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: perl man page (bugs and enhancements)
Message-ID: <12170011@hpccc.HP.COM>
Date: 15 Aug 90 18:21:53 GMT
References: <1990Aug13.194249.6156@amd.com>
Organization: HP Corp Computing & Services
Lines: 46

I thought I'd give Jeff first crack at clarifying his comments, but he seems 
to have backed down on the second one:

Regarding the following from the manual:
>     As mentioned earlier, if any list operator (print, etc.)  or
>     any  unary  operator  (chdir,  etc.)  is  followed by a left
>     parenthesis as the next token on the same line, the operator
>     and  arguments within parentheses are taken to be of highest
>     precedence, just like a normal function call.  Examples:
>
>          chdir $foo || die;       # (chdir $foo) || die
>          chdir($foo) || die;      # (chdir $foo) || die
>          chdir ($foo) || die;     # (chdir $foo) || die
>          chdir +($foo) || die;    # (chdir $foo) || die
>
>     but, because * is higher precedence than ||:
>
>          chdir $foo * 20;         # chdir ($foo * 20)
>          chdir($foo) * 20;        # (chdir $foo) * 20
>          chdir ($foo) * 20;       # (chdir $foo) * 20
>          chdir +($foo) * 20;      # chdir ($foo * 20)

Jeff wrote
: Shouldn't it read:
:      but, because * is higher precedence than +:

I agree with Larry that that misses the point.
My suggestion is that it should read:

      but, because * has higher precedence than chdir :

Larry writes:
> The point is that chdir (as a
> unary operator) has a precedence intermediate between || and *, so * and ||
> don't behave the same after chdir.

This point might be further clarified by adding before the first 4 indented 
lines something like:
      Because || has lower precedence than chdir we have:

----------

Now, repeat after me:
Tasteful redundancy is Golden.

- Len Weisberg - HP Corp Computing & Services - weisberg@corp.HP.COM