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From: gustav@tharr.UUCP (Paul Moore)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Possible problem with syscall()
Message-ID: <1454@tharr.UUCP>
Date: 26 Nov 90 19:13:22 GMT
Reply-To: gustav@tharr.UUCP (Paul Moore)
Organization: Public access to Usenet in the UK
Lines: 27

There appears to be a problem with syscall() in perl. When perl is working
out whether an argument is a string or an integer, it decides by working out
whether the argument looks like a number. But what about the *string* "1"?

The above is a bit vague, as I have no experience of syscall() under unix,
so I can't say whether this is a real problem. I encountered it while
porting perl to my machine (the Acorn Archimedes - if anyone is interested
in this port, get in touch!), where I made syscall() call the operating
system routines. These include a "print a string" call, and I noticed the
problem when I tried to print "1" - as mentioned above.

However, from what I can gather of unix syscall(), it allows you to call
any system call available - so what about syscall(creat,"1",0666) [or
however you would say it] to create a file "1"?

Gustav.

-- 
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Really: Paul Moore, 10, Mulberry Rise, Firdale Park, Northwich, ENGLAND
E-Mail: pmoore@cix.compulink.co.uk
    or: gustav@tharr.uucp (...!ukc!tharr!gustav)

"I hadda documentation once, but I drink a big-a glass of warm-a salty water
 anna it went away like-a dat" (Duke Leonardi, Cerebus 'Church & State')
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